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http://www.archive.org/details/earlycooperstownOOclariala 


1.    ALBERT   CLARKE  :     2.    L.  C.  MUROOCK  : 
5.    W.    H.    ALGER:       6,    ALBERT    VAN    OEUSEN 


3.    H     N.  VAN   DEUSEN  : 
7.    B.    B.    LOOMIS  :       8. 


O.  L.  SEVERSON  ; 
P.    RIPLEY. 


H.  M.  CRYDENWISE:     2,   T.  B.  ROBERTS:     3.    EGBERT   KILPATRrCKs 
S.   CLARK:      6.   A.  J.   COOK:      7.   T.   F.    HALL:      8.   J.    H.    LITTELL. 


4.   J.  C.  LEACOCK: 


Early  Cooperstown  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


BY 

ALBERT  CLARKE 

Pastor  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


Foreword 

The  celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  the  Coopers- 
town  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  my  excuse 
for  publishing  this  brief  history.  The  first  chapter 
is  devoted  to  the  early  settlement  of  the  village, 
and  the  second  to  a  remarkable  period  of  twenty 
years  in  which  no  church  spire  pointed  heavenward. 
The  third  chapter  tells  of  the  origin  of  the  first 
churches:  and  from  that  point  the  story  is  that  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  I  am  indebted 
to  Dr.  Zachariah  Paddock's  "Memoir  of  Benjamin 
G.  Paddock";  George  Peck's  "Early  Methodism" 
and  "Life  and  Times  of  George  Peck";  the  files  of 
the  "Otsego  Herald,"  first  published  April  3d,  1795; 
James  Fenimore  Cooper's  "Chronicles  of  Coopers- 
town,"  and  his  Leatherstocking  story,  "The  Pion- 
eers"; Francis  W.  Halsey's  "The  Old  New  York 
Frontier"  and  "A  Tour  of  Four  Great  Rivers"; 
Levi  Beardsley's  "Reminiscences";  "History  of 
Wyoming  Conference,"  by  the  Rev.  A.  F,  Chafifee; 
as  well  as  the  various  Conference  Minutes  and  the 
Cooperstown  church  records  and  papers.  I  have 
also  gleaned  valuable  items  of  information  from 
present  and  former  residents  of  Cooperstown.  I 
have  tried  to  correctly  represent  everything  here 
presented,  but  can  not  hope  that  I  have  entirely 
escaped  error.  I  tender  thanks  to  all  who  have  so 
kindly  responded  to  requests  for  help. 

ALBERT  CLARKE. 
Cooperstown,  N.Y.,  April  24,  19 13. 


CHAPTER  I 
CooPERSTowN   From   Eari^iest   Times 

THE  first  white  men  broke  the  silence  of  the 
Otsego  forests  nearly  three  hundred  years  ago. 
They  were  Dutch  traders,  who  left  Fort  Or- 
ange (Albany)  to  buy  furs  from  the  Indians.  They 
went  up  the  Mohawk  River,  and  followed  the  In- 
dian trail  to  the  head  of  Otsego  Lake,  to  connect 
with  the  Susquehanna  River.  The  rivers  were  then 
the  highways.  Later  English  traders  supplanted 
the  Dutch,  and  in  1721  they  asked  King  George  I 
to  erect  a  fort  at  the  point  where  the  river  issues 
from  the  lake.  One  wonders  what  would  have  been 
the  name  of  Cooperstown  if  the  king  had  granted 
their  request. 

The  Rev.  C.  J.  Smith,  a  Yale  man,  had  an  Indian 
mission  at  Oghwaga  (Windsor)  in  the  middle  of  the 
1 8th  century.  In  1754  he  transferred  it  for  a  while 
to  the  site  of  Cooperstown  because  of  the  scarcity 
of  food  at  Oghwaga. 

The  Rev.  C.  J.  Hartwick,  founder  of  Hartwick 
Seminary,  made  the  first  clearing  at  the  foot  of  the 
lake  in  1761.  He  supposed  that  his  land  grants 
extended  to  the  lake:  discovering  his  mistake,  he 
abandoned  the  spot. 

Colonel  George  Croghan  secured  from  the  In- 
dians a  conveyance  of  100,000  acres  of  land  at  the 
south  end  of  the  lake  in  1768,  and  the  next  year  made 
a  resolute  effort  to  settle  it.  Richard  Smith,  on  his 
way  to  survey  the  Otego  patent,  came  to  Croghan's 


6      EARLY   COOPERSTOWN   AND  THE   M.   E.    CHURCH 

May  1 6,  1769:  "Mr.  Croghan  is  now  here,  and  has 
carpenters  and  other  men  at  work  preparing  to 
build  two  dwelling  houses  and  five  or  six  outhouses. 
His  situation  commands  a  view  of  the  whole  lake. 
We  lodged  at  Colonel  Croghan's."  Smith's  party 
were  again  at  Croghan's  from  May  22  to  29,  and 
three  of  the  carpenters  helped  them  make  a  canoe 
from  a  white  pine  tree.  In  the  same  journal,  Rich- 
ard Smith  says:  "We  met  on  their  return  (May  13, 
1769)  four  wagons  which  had  carried  some  of  Colonel 
Croghan's  goods  to  his  seat  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Ot- 
sego." Either  financial  failure,  or  the  devastation 
that  came  to  the  Susquehanna  Valley  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  defeated  Croghan's  plans. 

In  1779  General  James  Clinton,  with  a  brigade  of 
ivSoo  men,  camped  on  Croghan's  land  for  about 
six  weeks.  They  came  from  the  Mohawk  River 
to  the  head  of  the  lake,  down  which  they  were  trans- 
ported in  220  boats  they  had  brought  from  the  Mo- 
hawk. They  were  a  part  of  the  army  Washington 
sent  to  destroy  the  Indian  settlements  after  the 
massacres  of  Wyoming  and  Cherry  Valley.  Gen- 
eral Clinton  made  a  building  left  by  Croghan  his 
headquarters:  it  was  of  hewn  logs,  about  15  feet 
square.  Some  of  the  soldiers  reached  camp  by  the 
end  of  June,  and  all  were  in  their  tented  city  by 
July  5th.  The  first  religious  service  on  record  in 
Cooperstown  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  John 
Gano,  a  New  York  Baptist  minister  and  the  soldiers' 
chaplain.  On  July  4th,  1779,  the  third  anniversary 
of  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  while  the  issue  of  the  war  was  still  in  doubt,  he 
preached  to  the  brigade  from  the  words,  "This  day 
shall  be  unto  you  for  a  memorial,"  etc.   (Exodus 


COOPERSTOWN   FROM   EARLIEST  TIMES  7 

12,  14).  Mr.  Gano  preached  regularly  until  the 
troops  left  on  August  9th,  speaking  on  Sunday,  the 
8th,  from  the  words,  "Being  ready  to  depart  on  the 
morrow."  These  soldiers  found  "rattlesnakes 
aplenty"  here,  as  well  as  bears,  wolves,  panthers, 
and  deer. 

In  1783  George  Washington,  on  a  tour  of  the 
lakes,  visited  Lake  Otsego. 

Croghan  had  mortgaged  his  lands  to  William 
Franklin,  son  of  Benjamin  Franklin:  and  William 
Cooper  secured  titles  to  the  property  in  1785.  That 
autumn  Cooper  came  to  look  over  the  country,  and 
this  is  what  he  says: 

"In  1785  I  visited  the  rough  and  hilly  country  of 
Otsego,  where  there  existed  not  an  inhabitant  nor 
any  trace  of  a  road.  I  was  alone  300  miles  from 
home,  without  bread,  meat,  or  food  of  any  kind: 
fire  and  fishing  tackle  were  my  only  means  of  sub- 
sistence. I  caught  trout  in  the  brook,  and  roasted 
them  on  the  ashes.  My  horse  fed  on  the  grass  that 
grew  by  the  edge  of  the  waters.  I  laid  me  down  to 
sleep  in  my  watch-coat,  nothing  but  the  melancholy 
wilderness  around  me.  In  this  way  I  explored  the 
country,  formed  my  plans  of  future  settlement,  and 
meditated  upon  the  spot  where  a  place  of  trade  or 
a  village  should  afterwards  be  established.  In 
May,  1786,  I  opened  the  sales  of  40,000  acres,  which 
in  sixteen  days  were  all  taken  up  by  the  poorest 
order  of  men.  I  soon  after  established  a  store,  and 
went  to  live  among  them,  and  continued  to  do  so 
until  1790,  when  I  brought  on  my  family," 

Mr.  Cooper  was  one  of  the  most  successful  colo- 
nizers of  new  territory  the  young  republic  had.  He 
does  not  mention  the  Croghan  log  house  in  the  above 


8      EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  THE  M.    E.  CHURCH 

description,  but  his  son  Fenimore  says  it  was  in  use 
for  many  years  afterwards. 

Thus  Cooperstown  was  permanently  settled  in 
1786,  several  families  locating  here  that  year,  when 
a  tavern  was  also  opened.  Early  in  1788  Cooper 
began  to  build  his  own  house,  and  brought  his  family, 
including  one-year-old  James  Fenimore  Cooper, 
in  1790. 

By  the  winter  of  1791  there  were  a  hundred  people 
in  the  village.  The  county  of  Otsego  and  the  Ot- 
sego Circuit  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
both  were  formed  in  179 1.  In  that  year,  too,  Coop- 
erstown became  the  Otsego  county  seat.  From 
that  time  the  village  grew  somewhat  rapidly.  In 
1795  it  had  200  people,  and  349  by  1803.  At  the 
census  of  18 10  the  population  was  544,  including 
24  negroes,  twelve  of  whom  were  slaves.  Slaves 
were  not  only  held  here,  but  advertisements  in  the 
"Otsego  Herald"  show  that  they  were  occasionally 
offered  for  sale,  and  reward  was  offered  for  the  cap- 
ture of  runaway  slaves. 

When  Cooperstown  became  the  county  town,  a 
building  to  serve  as  court  house  and  gaol  was  erected 
in  1 79 1  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Pioneer  Streets, 
where  the  Byard  building  now  stands.  The  court 
house  was  on  the  upper  story,  and  was  entered  from 
Main  Street;  while  the  lower  story,  built  of  logs, 
formed  the  gaol,  the  entrance  to  which  was  on  Pion- 
eer Street.  A  whipping-post  and  stocks  stood  op- 
posite the  gaol  door,  on  the  other  side  of  the  street. 
In  1 79 1  the  first  physician  who  settled  in  the  village, 
named  Powers,  was  placed  in  the  stocks  and  later 
banished  from  the  village  for  mixing  tartar  emetic 
in  some  drink  that  was  served  at  a  ball  at  the  Red 


COOPERSTOWN  FROM  EARLIEST  TIMES  9 

Lion  tavern.  The  Red  Lion  stood  on  the  Church 
and  Scott  comer,  opposite  the  court  house,  and  pro- 
jected half  way  across  Main  Street.  A  man  named 
Porteous  was  whipped  at  the  post  and  banished  in 
1795  for  stealing  ribbons.  Public  punishment  of 
lawbreakers  was  considered  wholesome  in  those 
days,  and  in  1827  a  murderer  was  publicly  hanged 
not  far  from  the  spot  where  Brady's  mill  how  stands. 

People  were  imprisoned  for  debt,  and  when  bailed 
out  were  placed  on  the  village  limits.  Stones 
marked  the  limits:  One,  that  still  stands,  near  the 
athletic  field;  another,  that  only  disappeared  in 
recent  years,  near  the  Sunnyside  corner  of  Chestnut 
and  Elm  Streets,  a  short  distance  down  Elm  Street; 
a  third,  where  the  river  issues  from  the  lake ;  and  the 
fourth  somewhere  near  the  southwest  extremity  of 
the  lake. 

In  those  days  there  were  few  houses  west  of  Pion- 
eer Street — then  called  West  Street.  Within  the 
memory  of  people  now  living  in  the  village,  the 
south  side  of  Elm  Street — including  Susquehanna 
Avenue,  Eagle  and  Delaware  Streets,  was  a  large 
hop  field.  At  the  same  time  the  last  straggling 
houses  on  Chestnut  Street  were  the  Dr.  Evans  house 
and  the  house  that  is  now  the  Methodist  parsonage. 
Elm  Street;  from  the  point  where  Susquehanna 
Avenue  now  intersects  it,  was  just  a  country  lane. 
The  lots  where  the  Brewer  and  Watkins  houses  now 
stand  on  Chestnut  Street  formed  the  tentiqg  ground 
for  traveling  circuses  and  county  fairs. 

The  first  academy,  for  which  a  subscription  of 
$1,500  was  raised,  was  erected  in  1795  on  the  site 
of  the  Universalist  Church :  before  the  academy  was 
built,   the  court  house   was  used   as  a  school.     A 


lO  EARI,Y  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

Masonic  hall  was  built  in  1797,  at  the  comer  of  I^ake 
and  Pioneer  Streets.  The  village  was  incorporated 
in  1807,  as  "The  Village  of  Otsego,"  and  reincor- 
porated as  Cooperstown  in  1 8 1 2 :  at  the  latter  date 
there  were  686  inhabitants. 


CHAPTER  II 
Churchless  Cooperstown 

FROM  the  settlement  of  Cooperstown  until  1806, 
a  period  of  twenty-one  years,  it  had  no  place 
of  public  worship.  This  is  the  more  remarkable 
when  we  recall  the  fact  that  in  1791  it  became  the 
county  seat  of  Otsego.  For  sixteen  years  the  county 
capital  was  without  a  church !  It  had  a  court  house, 
an  academy,  a  Masonic  hall,  a  public  library,  a 
weekly  newspaper,  and  a  population  of  nearly  500 
before  it  could  boast  of  a  church.  What  other  New 
York  village  has  such  a  record? 

As  early  as  May  15,  1795,  when  the  academy  was 
being  built,  a  correspondent  in  the  "Otsego  Herald" 
suggested  "the  propriety  also  of  making  some  ar- 
rangements for  erecting  a  meeting-house  in  Coopers- 
town";  but  nothing  was  done. 

Prior  to  1796  occasional  services  were  held  in  the 
court  house.  After  that  date  the  "long  room"  on 
the  upper  floor  of  the  academy — a  room  64  feet  by 
32  feet — was  used.  During  those  earlier  years  itin- 
erant preachers  of  different  denominations  conducted 
services  irregularly:  on  some  Sundays  two  traveling 
ministers  would  preach  at  different  hours,  and  then 
again  no  minister  would  appear  for  several  Sundays. 
Describing  "Templeton,"  a  name  that  thinly  dis- 
guises Cooperstown,  Cooper  says:  "When  an  itiner- 
ant priest  of  the  persuasion  of  the  Methodists,  Bap- 
tists, Universalists,  or  of  the  more  numerous  sect  of 
the  Presbyterians,  was  accidentally  in  the  neighbor- 


12  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

hood,  he  was  ordinarily  invited  to  officiate,  and  was 
commonly  rewarded  for  his  services  by  a  collection 
in  a  hat,  before  the  congregation  separated.  When 
no  such  regular  minister  offered,  a  kind  of  colloquial 
prayer  or  two  was  made  by  some  of  the  more  gifted 
members,  and  a  sermon  was  usually  read,  from 
Sterne,  by  Mr.  Richard  Jones."  This  same  Richard 
Jones  "once  or  twice  essayed  to  introduce  the  Epis- 
copal form  of  service  on  the  Sundays  that  the  pul- 
pit was  vacant";  but  the  third  time  he  did  so  he 
had  but  one  auditor.  The  pulpit  alluded  to  was  a 
large  unpainted  box  that  stood  at  the  side  of  the 
long  room.  Many  of  these  early  itinerant  minis- 
ters were  among  the  greatest  heroes  the  country 
has  produced :  they  literally  gave  their  lives  for  the 
Gospel.  The  records  some  of  them  have  left  show 
that  the  "hat  collection"  was  usually  pitifully  small. 
Of  course  some  fanatics  who  owned  no  allegiance  to 
conference  or  presbytery  took  advantage  of  the 
irregular  conditions,  and  occasionally,  as  Levi 
Beardsley  tells  us,  a  man  preached  his  way  into 
politics. 

On  Tuesday,  Dec.  29,  1796,  at  a  Masonic  cele- 
bration, the  Rev.  John  Camp,  pastor  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  New  Canaan,  preached  in  the  academy 
"to  the  brethren  and  audience,  which  together  ex- 
ceeded 500  people."  E.  Phinney  printed  and  pub- 
lished this  sermon. 

Camp  meetings  helped  to  supply  the  lack  of  regu- 
lar religious  ministrations.  The  "Otsego  Herald" 
of  June  25,  1807,  contained  an  advertisement  of  a 
"camp  meeting  for  religious  exercises"  to  be  held 
■"on  the  loth  day  of  July  next,  near  the  house  of  Mr- 


CHURCH  LESS  COOPKRSTOWN  13. 

Asa  Harris,  innkeeper,  in  the  town  of  Otsego,  to- 
con  tinue  four  days." 

For  funerals,  dependence  was  placed  on  reaching 
a  preacher  as  he  traveled  his  circuit.  Often  the  ob- 
sequies were  delayed  to  secure  ministerial  service: 
sometimes  they  had  no  clergyman  at  all.  When 
William  Cooper's  daughter  Anna  was  thrown  from 
her  horse  and  killed  in  September,  1800,  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Nash  conducted  the  first  funeral  in  the  village 
with  Protestant  Episcopal  rites. 

Judge  Cooper  sometimes  officiated  at  weddings. 
Beardsley  describes  a  marriage  ceremony  the  judge 
performed  in  a  log  house  at  Richfield  in  1791 — the 
first  in  that  township.  "The  judge  was  in  his  long 
riding  boots,  covered  with  mud  up  to  his  knees." 
He  claimed  a  kiss  from  the  bride  as  his  fee,  and  would 
accept  no  other.  The  bride,  who  was  Mr.  Beards- 
ley's  aunt,  died  within  the  year,  and  he  thus  de- 
scribes the  funeral:  "The  neighbors  assembled;  we 
had  no  clergyman,  for  at  that  day  there  was  none  in 
that  vicinity.  Timothy  Hatch  read  a  chapter,  and 
at  the  grave  a  hymn,  'Why  do  we  mourn  departing 
friends?'  With  these  humble  ceremonies  the  body 
was  deposited  in  its  narrow  house,  then  'earth  to 
earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust,'  was  pronounced, 
and  a  rough  stonfe  was  placed  at  the  head."  Prob- 
ably funerals  took  place  in  Cooperstown  with  as 
little  ceremony  during  that  early  period. 

Before  1800  there  was  no  regiilarly  settled  minister 
in  the  village.  The  Rev.  Elisha  Mosely,  a  Presby- 
terian, preached  for  six  months  in  1795,  but  was  not 
settled  under  the  presbytery:  he  preached  the  first 
Thanksgiving  Day  sermon  in  the  village.  The 
Rev.  John  F.  Ernst,  a  Lutheran  minister  connected 


14  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

with  the  Hartwick  foundation,  came  to  Cooperstown 
in  1797,  and  taught  school  while  he  tried  to  form  a 
Lutheran  Church:  but  his  venture  failed.  The 
Rev.  John  McDonald,  of  the  Scotch  Seceders,  was 
imprisoned  for  debt  in  1799;  then  he  was  bailed  and 
placed  on  the  limits,  and  for  part  of  a  year  preached, 
supporting  himself  by  teaching  the  classics  to  a  few 
pupils.  I  think  it  highly  probable  that  he  paved 
the  way  for  the  formation  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  1800. 

Although  there  was  no  Sunday  School  in  this 
churchless  period,  Oliver  Cory,  who  taught  school 
in  the  court  house  and  later  in  the  academy,  gave 
religious  instruction  to  his  pupils  on  Saturdays. 
Was  not  this  a  "Sabbath"  School? 

Several  causes  combined  to  keep  Cooperstown 
waiting  so  long  for  a  church.  Dr.  George  Peck,  in 
his  "Early  Methodism,"  mentions  one.  Many  of 
the  first  settlers  came  from  New  England,  where 
church  attendance  was  compulsory.  Naturally 
some  who  resented  that  requirement  migrated  west- 
ward :  and  they  were  a  hard  class  to  interest  in  church 
matters.  Another  reason  was  the  sharp  denomina- 
tional differences  among  the  Christian  villagers. 
A  third  reason,  and  the  most  potent,  I  think,  was 
that  Judge  Cooper,  the  great  landowner  and  leader 
in  all  public  enterprises,  was  indifferent  to  church 
affairs.  Otherwise  the  village  named  for  him,  and 
in  which  his  own  family  was  reared,  would  have  had 
a  church  much  earlier.  Cooper's  picture  of  Judge 
Temple,  in  "The  Pioneers,"  is  generally  believed  to 
be  a  portrait,  softened  by  filial  afifection,  of  Judge 
Cooper:  and  Temple  is  not  represented  as  zealous 
for  the  church.     The  baptismal  records  of  Christ 


CHURCHLESS  COOPERSTOWN  15 

Church  show  that  James  Fenimore  Cooper  himself 
was  not  baptized  until  1851,  the  year  in  which  he 
died.  It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  when  the  first  two 
churches  were  erected,  Judge  Cooper  gave  the  land 
on  which  they  stood.  He  died,  however,  a  year 
before  the  consecration  of  Christ  Church. 


CHAPTER  III 
The  First  Churches 

THE  Presbyterians  were  the  religious  pioneers 
in  Cooperstown.  They  formed  the  first  qhurch, 
called  the  first  pastor,  and  built  the  first  church 
structure  in  the  village.  When  the  Rev.  Elisha 
Mosely  was  here  in  1795  a  Presbyterian  society  was 
formed;  but  the  Presbyterian  Church  records  show 
that  their  church  was  regularly  organized  in  1 800. 
The  church  is  fortunate  in  possessing  complete 
church  records  from  that  time.  One  of  the  charter 
members  of  the  church  was  George  Roberts,  who 
was  also  an  original  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  here  a  dozen  years  later.  This  does 
not  necessarily  mean  that  he  was  fickle  in  his  re- 
ligious belief:  in  a  churchless  community  good 
Christians  will  get  together  in  order  to  organize 
an  evangelical  church.  The  Rev.  Isaac  Lewis  was 
called  as  pastor  in  1800:  throughout  his  five  years' 
ministry  he  preached  in  the  academy.  The  building 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  commenced  in  1 805 : 
for  in  the  "Otsego  Herald"  of  February  25,  1806, 
notice  was  given,  under  date  of  February  20,  to  those 
who  were  in  arrears  "on  their  subscription  for  build- 
ing the  meeting-house  in  Cooperstown  that  it  is  in- 
dispensably necessary  that  they  make  immediate 
payment,"  as  the  officials  "are  in  arrears  for  the 
materials  and  labor,  as  far  as  the  building  has  pro- 
gressed." By  March  19th  Cyrus  Clark  and  Cy- 
renus  Clark,  the  officers  of  the  church  in  charge  of 


THE   OLD    ELM    STREET   CHURCH 


THE  FIRST  CHURCHES  17 

the  building  operations,  had  become  desperate,  and 
they  issued  a  further  notice  to  "those  who  do  not 
pay  before  the  ist  of  April  that  they  shall  leave  the 
names  of  all  such  delinquents  with  a  justice,  that 
they  may  be  proceeded  against  for  the  same."  On 
Tuesday,  September  23,  1806,  "the  Rev.  William 
Neill  was  ordained  in  the  new  meeting-house  in  this 
village,  which,  although  very  large,  was  much 
crowded."  The  ordination  was  conducted  by  the 
Oneida  Presbytery.  The  "new  and  beautiful" 
church  was  formally  dedicated  on  August  6,  1807. 
"The  pews  were  rented  for  eleven  months  for  nearly 
$900."  Originally  the  church  had  no  heating  appara- 
tus: few  of  the  earlier  churches  had.  They  used 
foot- warmers  in  the  pews  in  the  winter.  When  the 
first  stove  was  installed,  it  was  placed  on  a  plat- 
form eight  feet  high,  the  supporting  posts  standing 
on  each  side  of  the  center  aisle.  Thus  the  trustees 
solved  the  problem  of  having  the  heater  in  the  center 
of  the  church  without  blocking  the  aisle !  On  a  cold 
Sunday  the  sexton  would  mount  a  ladder  and  tend 
the  wood  fire  several  times  during  each  service. 

After  the  Presbyterians  came  the  Protestant 
Episcopalians.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Ellison,  of  Albany, 
in  company  with  the  lieutenant-governor  of  the 
state,  came  to  Cooperstown  in  1797  to  inspect  the 
academy.  Whilst  here  Mr.  Ellison  conducted  the 
first  Epriscopal  service  in  the  village.  The  Rev. 
Daniel  Nash,  familiarly  called  Father  Nash  because 
of  the  apostolic  simplicity  of  his  faith  and  life,  soon 
after  this  time  was  a  sort  of  circuit  preacher,  organ- 
izing and  shepherding  all  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
churches  in  the  upper  Susquehanna  valley.  Christ 
Church  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Benjamin  Moore 


l8  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

July  8,  iSio,  and  Mr.  Nash  was  settled  as  rector  the 
following  year.  Cooper,  in  his  "Chronicles,"  says 
the  church  was  built  in  1807:  if  it  was  commenced 
in  that  year.  Cooper's  story  in  "The  Pioneers"  may 
account  for  the  delay  in  its  completion  and  conse- 
cration. He  tells  that  the  church  was  built  "by  the 
aid  of  what  was  called  a  subscription,  though  all, 
or  nearly  all,  the  money  came  from  the  pocket  of  the 
landlord."  It  was  reared  "under  an  implied  agree- 
ment that,  after  its  completion,  the  question  should 
be  fairly  put  to  the  people,  that  they  might  decide 
to  what  denomination  it  should  belong."  Judge 
Temple  could  not  be  moved  to  express  an  opinion 
in  the  matter,  and  no  one  attended  a  meeting  Mr. 
Richard  Jones  called  to  determine  the  question. 
The  difficulties  and  delays  occasioned  by  Jones's 
efforts  to  make  the  building  an  Episcopal  Church 
without  daring  to  declare  his  purpose,  are  amusingly 
portrayed.  Cooper  himself  is  as  interesting  in  what 
he  omits  as  in  what  he  includes.  For  on  the  night 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Grant's  Christmas  service,  when 
"the  rays  of  a  full  moon"  caused  the  structure  des- 
tined to  be  Christ  Church  to  throw  "a  long  shadow 
across  the  fields  of  snow,"  the  Presbyterian  Church 
was  in  full  view  of  all  who  entered  the  academy :  but 
it  came  at  the  precise  point  of  Cooper's  blind  spot. 
Hence  the  readers  of  "The  Pioneers"  are  led  to  infer 
that  there  was  no  Presbyterian  Church  overshadow- 
ing the  academy  at  that  time. 

The  old  church,  a  model  of  which  may  be  seen  in 
Christ  Church  vestry,  was  severely  simple  both  in 
its  decoration  and  furniture  and  in  its  services. 
Like  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  has  been  greatly 
improved  since  its  erection.     Indeed,  it  is  today  one 


THE  FIRST  CHURCHES  19 

of  the  most  ornate  village  churches  in  the  state. 
The  location  of  the  church  was  fixed  by  a  cemetery, 
the  site  of  which  was  chosen  in  1792,  when  a  son  of 
Joseph  Griffin  died.  Other  buriajs  took  place  there, 
and  when  the  church  was  erected,  it  was  placed  by 
the  burial  ground,  which  then  became  the  church- 
yard. In  this  case  the  church  came  to  the  grave- 
yard, and  not  the  graveyard  to  the  church.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  members  of  the  Cooper  family 
are  buried  in  this  yard. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  the  third 
to  organize  and  to  build.  After  these  three  came 
the  Universal  ists,  who  organized  in  1831,  and  church 
erected  1833;  the  Baptist  Church,  formed  January 
21,  1834,  ^•iid  the  church  built  1835-36;  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  organized  1847.  Origin- 
ally every  church  had  its  own  burial  ground. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Methodist  Church  Beginnings 

METHODIST  preachers  had  conducted  oc- 
casional services  in  Cooperstown  from  the 
time  it  was  a  small  hamlet.  Indeed,  the 
itinerant  Methodist  ministry  was  well  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  a  newly-settled  country.  The  preacher 
rode  his  circuit,  along  roads  that  were  simply  bridle- 
paths, and  held  a  service  wherever  a  few  people 
could  be  gathered.  Schoolhouses,  barns,  and  pri- 
vate houses  served  for  churches;  and  in  summer, 
like  their  Master,  they  preached  out-of-doors. 
Once  in  a  while  they  held  service  in  a  tavern.  But 
Dr.  Z.  Paddock,  in  his  "Memoir  of  Benjamin  G. 
Paddock,"  tells  of  an  experience  that  discouraged 
Robert  R.  Roberts,  later  Bishop  Roberts,  from  hold- 
ing tavern  services.  Invited  to  preach  in  the  pub- 
lic house,  he  found  the  bar-room  his  church,  and  a 
number  of  the  regular  patrons  well  primed  before 
the  service  began.  When  Mr.  Roberts  was  preach- 
ing, one  maudlin  fellow  called  for  a  grog.  Mine 
host  was  proceeding  to  fill  the  order,  when  the  min- 
ister politely  requested  him  to  wait  until  the  service 
ended.  The  landlord,  however,  turned  to  him  with 
a  quizzical  smile  and  said,  "Mr.  Roberts,  you  appear 
to  be  doing  well;  I  would  thank  you  to  mind  your 
own  business,  and  I  will  mine." 

The  pioneer  preachers  on  the  Otsego  Circuit  in 
1 79 1  were  Philip  Wager  and  Jonathan  Newman. 
They  worked  so  well  on  the  newly-formed   circuit 


METHODIST  CHURCH  BEGINNINGS  21 

that  at  the  year's  end  there  were  eighty  members. 
No  doubt  they  and  their  successors  conducted  oc- 
casional services  in  Cooperstown.  The  Rev, 
William  Colbert,  presiding  elder  of  the  Albany  dis- 
trict, rode  through  the  circuit  in  1802.  He  passed 
through  Cooperstown  on  his  way  to  Middlefield 
Center,  where  a  Methodist  class  was  formed  in  1791. 
Here  was  the  home  of  Luther  and  Annis  Collar  Peck, 
who  gave  five  sons  to  the  Methodist  ministry,  in- 
cluding Bishop  Jesse  T.  Peck  and  Dr.  George  Peck. 
Mr.  Colbert  thus  refers  to  this  trip:  "March  20,  1802. 
Rode  on  to  Cooperstown,  handsomely  situated  on 
the  south  end  of  Lake  Otsego,  'Susquehanna's  ut- 
most spring.'  Stopped  there  a  while,  and  rode  on 
to  Daniel  M'AUum's,  where  a  few  people  were  wait- 
ing. I  preached  to  them  with  satisfaction  from 
Amos  5:  6."  Again  he  notes  on  November  13  of 
the  same  year:  "Rode  about  six  miles  before  sunrise. 
The  morning,  though  cold,  was  very  pleasant.  As 
Cooperstown  came  in  view,  the  rising  sun  had 
clothed  the  surrounding  mountains  with  his  golden 
light.  The  landscape  was  truly  delightful  to  the 
eye  of  the  traveler."  In  1803  Mr.  Colbert  was 
for  several  days  at  Joseph  Blair's,  at  Middlefield 
Center,  replenishing  his  wardrobe.  He  makes  no 
reference  to  any  service  in  Cooperstown,  then  a 
village  of  several  hundred  people. 

In  1806  Benoni  Harris  was  one  of  the  preachers 
on  Otsego  Circuit.  Dr.  George  Peck,  then  a  boy 
of  nine,  saw  him  baptize  by  immersionin  Red  Creek — 
only  a  short  distance  from  Cooperstown — Benjamin 
G.  Paddock  and  two  other  persons.  Mr.  Paddock 
a  few  years  later  was  pastor  of  Cooperstown  Method- 
ist Church.     What  impressed  young   Peck  about 


22  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

the  baptism  was  the  diminutive  size  of  Mr.  Harris: 
he  was  about  five  feet  in  height.  He  "marveled  at 
his  physical  strength." 

Dr.  Peck  distinctly  remembered  the  Otsego  Cir- 
cuit preachers  of  1810.  They  were  William  Jewett 
and  Seth  Mattison,  and  both  were  repeatedly  en- 
tertained in  the  Peck  household.  The  Rev.  Seth 
Mattison  six  years  later  presided  at  the  meeting  in 
Cooperstown  schoolhouse  that  took  steps  to  build 
a  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  When  Dr.  Peck 
was  editor  of  the  "Christian  Advocate,"  he  secured 
of  Mr.  Jewett  a  plan  of  the  circuit  as  it  was  served 
in  1 8 10.  Among  about  forty  preaching  places  were 
Cooperstown  village,  Bowerstown  (Raxford's),  and 
"Piertown"  (Knowlton's).  This  shows  that  in 
1810  there  was  a  Methodist  service,  with  preaching, 
once  in  two  or  three  weeks  in  Cooperstown;  but  it 
does  not  absolutely  prove  that  the  society  was 
formed  by  this  time.  The  Rev.  D.  W.  Bristol,  who 
was  pastor  in  1838,  says  the  church  was  organized 
either  in  1810  or  1812. 

In  1 8 1 2  Ebenezer  White  and  Ralph  Lanning  were 
the  Otsego  Circuit  preachers.  Father  White,  Peck 
says,  "was  almost  idolized  by  the  members  of  the 
church,  young  and  old."  He  attracted  large  con- 
gregations wherever  he  preached,  and  the  church 
was  greatly  strengthened.  He  died  before  the  close 
of  the  Conference  year.  Seth  Mattison  wrote  an 
elegy  on  the  occasion.  If  the  Cooperstown  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  was  not  organized  in  18 10,  it 
was  certainly  in  existence  before  the  Conference 
of  1 8 13.  From  1816  we  have  full  minutes  of  the 
annual  corporate  meetings  and  of  the  trustees' 
meetings. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  First  Methodist  Church 

AT  a  meeting  held  in  the  Cooperstown  school- 
house,  October  22,  1816,  the  church  was  in- 
corporated. The  Rev.  Seth  Mattison,  the 
circuit  minister,  presided,  Daniel  McLeland  being 
associated  with  him  in  the  presidency,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  time.  The  corporate  name 
adopted  was  "The  First  Incorporated  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Cooperstown," 
and  the  following  trustees  were  elected:  George 
Roberts,  Daniel  McLeland,  Joseph  Perkins,  Arthur 
Canfield  and  Justus  Hinman.  On  the  31st  day  of 
the  same  month  James  Averell,  Jun.,  covenanted 
"to  convey  or  cause  to  be  conveyed  by  deed  of  war- 
ranty one  hundred  feet  square  of  land  from  the 
north-east  corner  of  my  pasture  lot  lying  on  the  road 
leading  from  Cooperstown  to  Hartwick."  This 
land  was  deeded  for  no  other  purpose  than  the  erec- 
tion of  a  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  when  it 
ceased  to  be  so  used  was  to  revert  to  Mr.  Averell. 
This  lot  was  not  far  from  the  present  church,  on  the 
southeast  comer  of  the  high  school  campus.  The 
road  from  Cooperstown  to  Hartwick  passed  along 
Elm  Street  and  Chestnut  Street.  From  what  has 
been  already  said  about  the  bounds  of  the  village, 
it  will  be  seen  that  this  lot  was  outside  the  limits. 
The  meeting  decided  to  build  in  181 7  a  church 
35  feet  by  45  feet,  16  feet  from  plate  to  sill,  with  a 
front  gallery.    A  further  meeting  held  January  7, 


24  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

1 817,  took  steps  to  circulate  subscription  papers — 
cash  subscriptions  to  be  paid  one-half  on  the  first  of 
May  and  the  remainder  the  first  of  October,  and  gifts 
of  material  and  labor  were  to  be  delivered  on  or  be- 
fore the  first  of  May.  A  number  of  meetings  of  the 
trustees  were  held  in  the  next  few  months,  and  ul- 
timately, on  September  12th,  this  peculiar  arrange- 
ment was  made:  "Resolved  that  Joseph  Perkins  be 
our  agent  in  all  things  relative  to  the  building  the 
meeting-house,  and  that  he,  from  the  beginning  to 
enclosing,  and  building  the  pulpit  and  front  steps, 
do  all  the  work  and  find  all  the  materials,  in  considera- 
tion that  he  have  all  the  property  that  is  subscribed 
and  has  been  paid  towards  said  house,  said  house  to 
be  finished  by  the  first  of  December  next — the  lay- 
ing of  the  lower  floor  included."  The  same  meeting 
appointed  George  Roberts  and  Joseph  Perkins  a 
committee  to  lay  before  the  next  quarterly  confer- 
ence "the  propriety  of  building  a  steeple  on  said 
house."  The  work  lagged:  for  when  Mr.  Paddock 
took  up  his  residence  in  Cooperstown  in  18 18  the 
church  was  not  yet  completed.  There  are  minutes 
of  a  trustees'  meeting  September  loth,  apparently 

1 8 18,  at  which  it  was  resolved  "to  circulate  three 
subscriptions  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  and 
material  to  apply  to  the  finishing  the  meeting- 
house." A  trustees'  meeting  on  March  27,  18 19, 
accepted  a  gift  of  timber  from  Samuel  Cooper  and 
William  Cooper,  sons  of  Judge  Cooper,  for  the  use 
of  the  church;  appointed  David  Fairchild  to  con- 
tract to  get  the  saw  logs  to  the  mill  and  to  get  them 
sawn;  and  chose  Reuben  Whipple  to  superintend 
the  building  of  the  fence.  The  next  corporate  meet- 
ing, on  October  21,  18 19,  at  which  the  Rev.  B.  G. 


THE  FIRST  METHODIST  CHURCH  25 

Paddock  presided,  was  held  in  the  church.  The 
society  was  evidently  poor,  and  had  a  hard  task  to 
raise  funds  to  complete  the  first  church.  It  was 
used  for  services  in  18 18,  and  a  burial  ground  was 
made  around  it.  One  of  the  subscriptions  taken 
for  completing  the  first  church  brought  on  an  un- 
pleasant controversy  in  1824.  Some  half-dozen 
people  asserted  at  that  time  that  they  made  con- 
tributions on  condition  that  other  denominations 
were  to  have  the  use  of  the  church  when  the  Method- 
ists were  not  using  it.  On  this  ground  the  church 
was  claimed  for  a  regular  Universalist  service,  at  a 
different  hour  from  the  Methodist  service.  This 
demand  the  trustees  refused.  A  letter  was  received 
from  the  Rev.  B.  G.  Paddock,  who  Supervised  the 
subscriptions,  sweet  in  spirit  and  temperate  in  tone, 
stating  that  what  was  promised  was  that  on  any 
special  occasion,  as  a  funeral  or  the  passing  of  a 
traveling  preacher  of  another  denomination  through 
the  village,  the  church  might  be  opened;  "but  I  am 
decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  never  asked  or 
expected  that  a  part  of  the  time,  more  or  less,  as  a 
regular  appointment,"  the  church  should  be  "given 
for  any  denomination." 

The  Rev.  Abner  Chase  followed  the  Rev.  Seth 
Mattison  on  the  circuit  in  181 7.  Mr.  Chase  lived 
at  Cooperstown,  as  did  probably  Mr.  Mattison.  Dr. 
Paddock's  "Memoir"  of  his  brother  shows  that  when 
Benjamin  G.  Paddock  came  to  the  circuit,  in  18 18, 
it  was  the  established  custom  for  the  senior  preacher 
to  live  at  the  county  seat.  Which  was  the  first 
minister  to  make  his  home  here  I  can  not  determine. 
Abner  Chase  was  a  man  of  beautiful  and  winsome 
character,  and  a  preacher  of  freshness  and  power. 


26  KARLY  COOPBRSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

The  year  before  he  came  to  Cooperstown,  Zachariah 
Paddock  was  converted  under  his  ministry. 

The  Rev.  B.  G.  Paddock  occupied  the  Petty  house 
on  Chestnut  Street,  now  the  Dr.  Evans  house.  His 
residence  at  Cooperstown  convinced  him  there  was 
prospect  of  a  good  work  here.  Although  only  thirty 
years  old,  he  was  already  breaking  down  through 
the  rigors  of  a  circuit-rider's  life.  So  in  1819  he 
became  a  supernuhierary,  and  was  appointed  as  the 
first  exclusive  pastor  of  the  Cooperstown  church. 
He  thought  the  year,  compared  with  the  labors  of 
the  circuit,  would  be  one  of  rest;  but  he  made  it  a 
year  of  very  hard  work.  He  found  in  the  Rev. 
John  Smith,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  a 
man  of  kindred  spirit,  and  under  their  joint  efforts 
Cooperstown  had  what  was  probably  the  greatest 
revival  of  its  history.  This  work  of  grace  did  much 
to  overcome  the  ill  effects  of  the  churchless  years 
on  the  village.  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  examining 
the  Presbyterian  Church  records,  and  find  that  from 
June  I,  1 8 19,  to  March,  1820,  107  members  were 
added  to  that  church;  and  at  the  year's  end  Mr. 
Paddock  reported  the  Methodist  Church  member- 
ship to  be  155.  Probably  the  two  churches  were 
equal  gainers  by  the  revival.  The  population  of 
Cooperstown  in  1820  was  783;  so  that  a  body  of 
adults  equal  to  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  entire 
community  came  into  fellowship  with  these  two 
churches  within  a  few  months.  Some  of  the  con- 
verts were  from  the  surrounding  territory.  Fifty- 
three  years  later  Dr.  Horace  Lathrop,  son-in-law 
of  Mr.  Paddock,  wrote  that  these  two  godly  minis- 
ters "were  the  instruments  in  God's  hands  of  work- 
ing a  great  change  in  this  vicinity  for  the  better." 


THE  FIRST  METHODIST  CHURCH  27 

At  the  end  of  this  year  Mr.  Paddock  "located,"  pur- 
chased a  farm  in  Columbia,  Herkimer  county,  and 
retired  to  it  for  physical  recuperation.  Farm  life 
so  improved  his  health  that  before  the  year's  end 
he  was  again  preaching  at  Cooperstown,  filling  out 
the  year  of  the  Rev.  Elias  Bowen,  who  had  been 
called  to  Utica  to  fill  a  vacant  pulpit.  Benjamin 
G.  Paddock,  who  was  a  good  solo  singer  and  wrote 
some  hymns,  gave  two  sons  to  the  Christain  minis- 
try, and  has  several  descendants  now  living  in  Coop- 
erstown. 

Mr.  Paddock  was  succeeded  in  1821  by  the  Rev. 
Dana  Fox,  and  then  for  sixteen  years  Cooperstown 
formed  a  part  of  the  Otsego  Circuit  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  year  (1829),  when  the  Rev.  Henry  F. 
Rowe  was  pastor.  These  were  not  prosperous^ 
years  for  the  church.  First,  I  suppose,  there  was  a 
reaction  following  the  Paddock-Smith  revival .  Then 
the  situation  of  the  Methodist  Church  was  disad- 
vantageous: it  was  too  far  out  of  the  village.  In 
spring  and  fall  people  had  to  walk  through  so  much 
mud  to  reach  it  that  they  were  in  peril  of  being  mired, 
whilst  in  winter  they  often  had  to  break  their  way 
through  snowdrifts.  By  1837  the  Methodist  serv- 
ices were  so  ill  attended  that  for  a  while  the  church 
was  closed,  and  services  again  held  in  the  schoolhouse 
and  in  private  houses. 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  Church  on  Elm  Street 

THE  Rev.  D.  W.  Bristol,  a  capable  man,  became 
pastor  at  Cooperstown  in  1838,  and  negotia- 
tions were  at  once  opened  for  the  purchase  of 
a  new  church  site.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
select  a  lot,  which  seems  to  have  been  deeded  De- 
cember 6th  by  Ellery  and  Holder  Cory,  for  $250. 
It  was  a  part  of  the  land  on  which  the  old  church 
stands,  and  had  60  feet  frontage.  The  church  was, 
however,  removed  to  the  new  site  in  the  late  sum- 
mer of  1838,  for  the  accounts  show  that  on  Septem- 
ber 12th  Abram  Fling  was  paid  "for  superintendence 
in  moving  church."  Miss  Susan  M.  Hews,  then  a 
girl  of  eight,  remembers  watching  the  men  move 
the  church  as  Abram  Fling  shouted  his  orders  to 
them.  The  cost  of  removal  and  site  was  $535.75. 
To  this  must  be  added  other  sums  for  the  re- 
moval of  bodies  from  the  old  burial  ground.  Two 
receipts  are  preserved  from  Nathan  Weeks,  totaling 
$18,  "for  removing  the  dead  from  the  burying- 
ground,"  and  there  is  a  gruesome  detail  added — 
"To  H.  Clark  for  box  to  remove  bones,  $0.75." 
The  following  summer  Jacob  Edson,  on  a  contract 
that  still  exists,  almost  rebuilt  the  church,  making 
an  addition  35  feet  by  8  feet,  renewing  the  clapboards 
and  shingles,  putting  in  new  windows,  and  remodel- 
ling the  pulpit,  altar,  and  pews,  which  were  to  have 
doors.  "The  front  is  to  be  finished  with  four  pilas- 
ters, and  a  tower  and  cornice."     The  floor  for  two- 


THE  CHURCH  ON  ELM  STREET  29 

thirds  its  length  was  to  be  made  "an  inclined  plane." 
The  total  cost  of  the  change,  including  removal  and 
site,  was  $1,619.49.  It  was  a  very  creditable  under- 
taking for  the  church  at  that  time.  A  subscription 
list  with  over  200  names  is  preserved,  the  largest 
subscribers  being  Henry  Knowlton,  Thomas  Eddy, 
Romeo  Bowen,  Marvin  Handy,  and  Benedict 
Woodard.  The  name  of  Reuben  Nelson,  who  was 
then  teaching  in  the  second  academy,  occurs  on  the 
list.  The  Rev.  D.  A.  Shepard,  presiding  elder, 
preached  when  the  church  was  reopened.  The 
trustees  were  Zadock  Fitch,  Russell  Brownell, 
Henry  Knowlton,  Romeo  Bowen,  and  David  Mar- 
vin. 

Mr.  Bristol  served  a  second  term  as  pastor  in 
1848-9.  Some  alterations  in  the  church,  including 
the  construction  of  a  basement,  were  begun  before 
his  return,  when  the  Rev.  B.  W.  Gorham  was  pastor, 
and  were  completed  in  the  summer  of  1848.  Ad- 
ditional land  was  bought  of  the  Corys  for  $200,  and 
one  item  in  E.  and  H.  Cory's  bill  of  $201.11  for  ma- 
terials would  indicate  that  the  church  was  moved 
farther  back  from  the  road  at  that  time:  if  so,  it 
must  have  been  flush  with  the  sidewalk  at  first. 
A  detailed  bill  of  Loomis  Brown  of  $308.28  for  labor 
and  materials  shows  that  a  day's  wages  for  a  skilled 
carpenter  at  that  time  was  $1.25.  The  largest  sub- 
scribers at  this  time  were  Robert  H.  Weeks,  D.  W. 
Bristol,  G.  W.  Holmes,  W.  C.  Smith,  J.  G.  Bush, 
Lyman  Smith,  and  H.  and  E.  Bowen.  R.  H.  Weeks, 
L.  Smith,  G.  W.  Holmes,  Horace  Fish,  and  Joseph 
Lippitt,  Jr.,  were  the  trustees.  There  was  an  ac- 
cumulated debt  in  the  winter  of  1849-50,  and  in 
order  to  clean  it  up,  Mr.  Bristol  spent  seven  weeks 


30         KARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

among  the  chief  Methodist  churches  of  New  York 
City,  obtaining  over  $400  towards  the  funds.  Dr. 
Bristol  was  later  pastor  of  the  Centenary  Church 
in  Binghamton,  at  the  time  their  noble  edifice  was 
erected. 

When  the  centennial  of  American  Methodism 
was  celebrated,  in  1866,  the  Rev.  I.  D.  Peaslee  be- 
ing pastor,  improvements  were  made  in  the  church, 
including  the  displacement  of  kerosene  lamps  by 
gas,  the  removal  of  the  pew-doors,  and  the  first  pa- 
pering of  the  church-walls.  The  trustees  were  E. 
Bell,  J.  M.  Moak,  Z.  Fitch,  J.  G.  Bush,  and  L.  J. 
Burditt. 

In  1875,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Rev.  Alger- 
non S.  Clark,  the  last  considerable  change  was  made 
in  the  building  whilst  it  remained  a  church.  The 
basement  was  eliminated,  a  larger  tower  built,  and 
a  lecture  room  added  at  the  rear.  Memorial  win- 
dows were  introduced,  a  large  rose  window  being 
placed  in  the  tower  by  men  who  had  entered  the 
ministry  from  Otsego  County.  On  Novemver  10, 
1875,  the  church  was  reopened,  Bishop  Randolph 
S.  Foster  preaching  from  the  text,  "His  name  shall 
be  called  Wonderful."  The  sum  of  $3,000  was  ex- 
pended on  the  improvements,  and  $1,200  of  this  was 
lacking  at  the  time  of  the  rededication.  After  the 
bishop's  sermon  the  congregation  subscribed  $1,500; 
and  at  night,  after  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Henry  Wheeler, 
the  presiding  elder,  another  $500  was  raised.  This 
paid  for  all  the  improvements,  and  enabled  the 
trustees  to  purchase  a  pipe  organ  for  $800  from  a 
Schenectady  church.  The  work  was  done  by  John 
Pank.  The  trustees  were  Dr.  D.  E.  Siver,  John 
Pank,  James   Ismond,   Zadock  Fitch,   and  G.   W. 


THE  CHURCH  ON  ELM  STREET  31 

Holmes.  The  improvements  in  all  cost  about  $4,000. 
During  A.  S.  Clark's  pastorate  there  was  a  good  re- 
vival, and  the  church  membership  was  doubled. 
In  1885  the  trustees  voted  to  give  the  Rev.  A.  F. 
Chaffee  a  silk  hat  for  his  work  in  paying  off  an  ob- 
stinate debt  of  $600. 

The  church  on  Elm  Street  was  so  closely  flanked 
by  other  buildings,  that  a  stranger,  having  his  at- 
tention attracted  by  the  well-located  churches  across 
the  street,  might  pass  it  without  seeing  it.  It  placed 
Methodism  at  a  disadvantage  in  Cooperstown.  But 
some  remarkable  men  ministered  within  its  walls. 
Bishop  Edward  Gayer  Andrews,  whose  acute  intel- 
lect and  gracious  spirit  charmed  annual  conferences 
all  over  the  world,  preached  there  for  two  years 
( 1 850-1).  In  1852  the  Rev.  John  P.  Newman,  then 
a  young  pastor  at  Cherry  Valley,  spoke  in  revival 
services  that  stirred  the  town.  The  ability  of  the 
great  Bishop  Newman,  friend,  pastor,  and  funeral 
orator  of  President  U.S.  Grant,  was  already  manifest 
in  him  at  that  early  period  of  his  ministry.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  B.  B.  Loomis  and  Loomis  Brown  were 
brought  into  the  church  in  these  services.  Bishop 
Jesse  T.  Peck  and  Dr.  George  Peck  both  spoke  in  the 
church  one  Sunday  in  1873,  when  on  a  visit  to  the 
old  homestead  at  Middlefield  Center.  A  number 
of  men  who  were  later  presiding  elders  or  members 
of  the  General  Conference  served  the  Cooperstown 
Church  during  the  sixty -five  years  of  the  Elm  Street 
location,  including  William  Bixby,  Silas  Comfort, 
Joseph  Shank,  W.  M.  Hiller,  W.  L.  Thorpe,  and 
other  men  still  living  who  have  done  great  service 
for  the  church.  One  pastor,  the  Rev.  Isaac  D. 
Peaslee,  found  his  wife  here — Miss  Martha  Brown, 


32  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M,  E.  CHURCH 

daughter  of  Loomis  Brown,  many  years  an  official 
member.  Mr.  Peaslee's  body  lies  in  the  beautiful 
Lake  wood  Cemetery. 

We  have  already  seen  that  B.  G.  Paddock  lived 
on  Chestnut  Street  in  1818.  The  house  at  No.  24, 
Elm  Street  was  occupied  by  a  number  of  the  pastors, 
and,  although  not  the  property  of  the  church,  came 
to  be  regarded  as  the  parsonage.  It  was  late  before 
the  church  owned  a  pastoral  house.  A  project  for 
building  a  parsonage  was  launched  when  the  Rev. 
W.  L.  Thorpe  was  pastor,  in  1870;  but  it  remained 
for  the  Rev.  H.  M.  Crydenwise  to  carry  it  through. 
In  1 87 1  a  fine  lot  was  purchased  of  Luther  I.  Burditt, 
on  Eagle  Street,  for  $500,  and  here  a  house  was  built 
which,  with  the  lot,  cost  about  $2,500.  The  whole 
sum  was  raised  by  subscription,  the  principal  con- 
tributors being  E.  D.  Hills,  James  Ismond,  H.  and 
G.  S.  Van  Deusen,  D.  E.  Siver,  Zadock  Fitch,  H.  F 
Phinney,  Horace  Fish,  O.  Reynolds,  James  Bullis, 
Warren  C.  Smith,  Mrs.  Lorenzo  White,  L.  I.  Bur- 
ditt, Elihu  Phinney,  Cornelius  Teachout,  D.  J. 
Borst,  W.  H.  Averell,  Edward  Clark,  and  S.  Nelson. 
The  trustees  at  the  time  were  Zadock  Fitch,  E.  D. 
Hills,  James  Ismond,  Edwin  Bell,  and  Dr.  »Siver. 
Mr.  Bell  was  the  man  who  laid  out  Lakewood  Ceme- 
tery. All  the  pastors  lived  in  this  house  until  the 
purchase  of  the  Chestnut  Street  property  in  1902; 
the  Rev.  T.  F.  Hall,  who  occupied  the  house  from 
1888  to  1890,  now  owns  it. 

For  some  years  the  presiding  elder  lived  at  Coop- 
erstown,  one  occupying  the  house  at  the  comer  of 
Chestnut  and  Delaware  Streets,  and  another  resid- 
ing at  24  Elm  Street.  A  scheme  was  set  afoot  by 
the  quarterly  conference  in  1856  to  get  the  district 


THE  CHURCH  ON  El,M  STREET  33 

interested  in  the  purchase  of  a  home  for  the  presiding 
elder  in  this  village;  but  it  came  to  naught. 


CHAPTER  VII 
The  Present  Church  and  Parsonage 

TO  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Littell  belongs  the  honor  of 
leading  in  the  project  that  gave  to  Methodism 
the  present  handsome  brick  church  and  pic- 
turesque parsonage.  On  March  lo,  1902,  the  trus- 
tees purchased  of  John  Pank  the  Craft  house  on  the 
comer  of  Chestnut  Street  and  Glen  Avenue,  with  its 
ample  lot.  The  purchase  price  was  $4,600,  Mr.  Pank 
accepting  as  part  payment  the  Eagle  Street  house 
at  $2,500.  The  house,  with  the  pastor's  family  in 
residence,  was  removed  farther  north,  and  had  one 
of  its  wings  removed,  to  make  room  for  the  church: 
it  was  also  set  thirty  feet  farther  back  from  Chest- 
nut Street,  so  as  to  be  on  a  line  with  the  Sill  residence. 
The  enterprise  was  a  large  one,  and  great  praise  is 
due  for  the  excellent  choice  of  location,  and  the  faith, 
courage,  and  sacrifice  manifested  in  carrying  the 
project  through.  Everybody  helped,  and  members 
of  other  churches  showed  their  interest  in  a  practical 
way.  Father  Early,  the  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
gave  a  subscription  as  an  expression  of  his  good  will. 
The  Alfred  Coming  Clark  Estate,  which  has  always 
liberally  supported  enterprises  for  the  betterment 
of  Cooperstown,  gave  generous  assistance.  The 
pastor  told  the  writer,  soon  after  the  work  was  com- 
pleted, that  never  did  laymen  work  more  harmoni- 
ously with  pastor  than  the  men  who  financed  this 
enterprise. 

When  the  time  came  for  the  consecration  of  the 


THE  PRESENT  CHURCH  AND  PARSONAGE  35 

church,  it  was  felt  most  fitting  that  Bishop  E.  G, 
Andrews  should  preach  the  dedicatory  sermon. 
This  the  worthy  bishop,  now  quite  aged,  readily 
consented  to  do.  He  preached  a  favorite  sermon  of 
his  for  such  occasions,  on  "God  is  a  spirit"  (John  4, 
24).  The  services  took  place  on  March  25,  1904. 
Dr.  T.  F.  Hall,  the  presiding  elder  and  a  former 
Cooperstown  pastor,  dedicated  the  church. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  at  the  time  the  church 
was  built  was:  Dr.  D.  E.  Siver  (president),  William 
H.  Michaels  (treasurer),  D.  E.  Gilmore  (secretary), 
Andrew  McLean,  Edwin  Lewis,  Hubbard  L.  Brazee, 
C.  A.  Francis,  G.  B.  Winne,  and  J.  C.  Peaslee.  The 
Building  Committee  consisted  of  Dr.  Siver,  A.  Mc- 
Lean, W.  H.  Michaels,  G.  B.  Winne,  and  C.  A. 
Francis.  The  committee  for  the  purchase  of  organ 
and  bell  was  H.  L.  Brazee  and  J.  C.  Peaslee.  The 
pastor  was  of  course  on  all  committees.  Fayette 
Houck  had  the  contract  for  building  the  church. 
The  old  church  on  Elm  Street  was  sold  to  L.  F. 
Steere  for  $1,500,  the  organ,  pews,  windows,  etc., 
not  being  included  in  the  sale.  The  value  of  the 
new  property  is  $25,000. 

In  the  list  of  subscribers  appears  the  name  of  Dr. 
Henry  D.  Sill,  one  of  the  noblest  men  God  ever  gave 
to  His  chuVch.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  but  was  often  in  the  Methodist 
prayer  meeting.  Because  the  property  adjoined 
the  Sill  family  residence,  a  rumor  was  circulated 
that  the  doctor  was  displeased  at  the  thought  that 
church  sheds  might  disfigure  it,  and  make  his  own 
residence  less  desirable.  When  Dr.  Sill  heard  of  this 
he  said:  "You  tell  them  that  if  they  will  build  church 
sheds  right  along  their  property  line,  and  fill  them 


36  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

every  Sunday,  Dr.  Sill  will  throw  up  his  hat."  Dr. 
Sill's  life  was  an  unanswerable  argument  for  Chris- 
tianity. 

Two  subscriptions  were  taken  for  the  building  of 
the  church,  one  in  1902,  to  be  paid  by  March  i,  1903, 
and  the  other  at  the  time  of  the  dedication  of  the 
church.  Combining  the  two  lists,  the  following 
subscriptions  were  paid: 

$1,100:  Mrs.  Jacob  G.  Bush. 

$1,035:  Dr.  D.  E.  Siver. 

$1,000:  Mrs.  Emily  A.  McLean. 

$700:  Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

$500  each:  William  H.  Michaels,  Mrs.  Henry  C. 
Potter,  Edward  Severin  Clark,  Fayette  Houck  and 
family.  Dr.  Henry  D.  Sill. 

$250:  A  Friend. 

$200  each:  F.  Ambrose  Clark,  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Marsh,  George  I.  Wilbur,  Samuel  M.  Shaw. 

$150  each:  Miss  Sarah  Powers,  George  S.  Van 
Deusen. 

$100  each:  Charles  L.  Root  and  wife,  L.  Blanche 
Root  and  Kenneth  Root,  Mrs.  Lucy  B.  Harris,  Mrs. 
Thomas  Laidler,  J.  Lynn  Barnard,  Church  Choir; 
Bundy  Bros,  and  Cruttenden,  A  Friend,  A  Friend. 

$60:  Miss  Ida  M.  Van  Deusen. 

$50  each:  W.  H.  Martin,  H.  L.  Brazee,  Lewis  and 
Burdick,  Edwin  Lewis,  Mrs.  A.  Gallup,  Mrs.  E. 
Delavan  Hills,  B.  L.  Murdock  and  Sons,  Fayette 
Houck. 

$25  each:  Mrs.  A.  H.  Brazee,  Mrs.  Wm.  McLean, 
Miss  Belinda  Chase,  Junior  League,  Emerson  B. 
Rogers,  Lettis  and  Saxton,  D.  J.  McGown,  Frank 
Mulkins ;  Austin,  Bolton,  and  Bronner;  Velma  M. 
Smith,  G.  M.  Grant  and  Co.,  Simon  Uhlmann,  Mrs 


THE  PRESENT  CHURCH  AND  PARSONAGE  37 

Ethel  Blakeslee,  J.  A.  Doan,  W.  D.  Burditt,  James 
Austin,  Elmer  Mattison,  Col.  Stewart,  Mrs.  F.  H. 
Haskins,  Boston  Clothing  House. 

$20  each :  Harry  E.  Lewis,  Miss  Mary  A.  Stickles, 
Miss  Flora  Peck,  Sidney  Osterout,  Mrs.  Helen  A. 
C.  Church,  W.  P.  K.  Fuller. 

$15  each:  Rev.  A.  F.  Chaffee,  A.  J.  Taylor. 

$10  each:  Seven  sums  of  $io  each  per  Rev.  J.  H. 
Littell;  Rev.  J.  H.  Littell,  Walter  R.  Littell,  Howard 
Uttell,  Mrs.  T.  F.  Hall,  Miss  Jennie  Gould,  Miss 
Maude  Martin,  Mrs.  Thomas  Laidler,  W.  H.  Bundy, 
A.  S.  Potts,  S.  J.  W.  Reynolds,  M.  E.  Lippitt,  W. 
Cory,  Mrs.  Charles  A.  Scott,  E.  E.  Palmer,  Harry 
Hiller,  Wm.  W.  McLean,  M.  R.  Stocker,  Mrs.  F. 
M.  Philley,  E.  D.  Boden,  Mrs.  William  North,  Wm. 
M.  Strait. 

And  51  subscriptions  of  less  than  $io,  totaling 
$207. 

In  March,  191 1,  when  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Harris 
was  pastor,  there  was  an  accumulated  indebtedners 
against  the  church  of  $3,500.  A  subscription,  to 
be  paid  monthly  for  three  years,  was  taken  which 
it  was  thought,  with  a  bequest  of  $1,105  from  Mrs. 
Bush,  would  liquidate  the  debt.  But,  as  the  sub- 
scription was  shrinking  by  reason  of  deaths,  remov- 
als, etc.,  a  determined  effort  was  made  to  wholly 
clear  the  church  of  debt  before  the  Church  Centen- 
nial Celebration,  June  ist  to  5th,  1913.  A  "Cen- 
tennial Bazaar,"  held  March  25  and  26  in  the  Village 
Hall  brought  in  $420  to  this  fund. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
A  Romantic  Story  That  is  True 

I  HAVE  reserved  a  separate  chapter  for  a  story 
as  romantic  as  ever  imagination  created.  It  had 
to  do  with  the  financing  of  the  church-building 
scheme.  As  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Littell  was  going  to  the 
Conference  of  1902,  at  Waverly,  Pa.,  someone  told 
him  that  Mrs.  Laura  S.  Bush,  an  elderly  widow  liv- 
ing at  Waverly,  was  formerly  a  member  of  the  Coop- 
ers town  Church,  and  might  give  some  financial 
help.  During  the  Conference  Mr.  Littell  was  sent 
for  to  the  home  of  Mrs.  Bush.  Her  husband,  Jacob 
G,  Bush,  who  ran  a  shoe  shop  in  this  village,  was  a 
trustee  of  the  church:  some  of  the  records  in  the 
trustees'  minute-book  are  in  his  handwriting.  Mrs. 
Bush  herself  at  the  same  time  conducted  a  millinery 
store  at  Cooperstown,  and  was  equally  interested 
with  her  husband  in  the  church  of  her  choice.  Mrs. 
Bush  led  Brother  Littell  on  to  tell  of  his  plans,  and 
eagerly  listened  to  his  story.  Before  he  left  she 
asked  him  to  send  her  his  subscription  list.  With 
a  delicacy  that  a  brother  minister  can  appreciate. 
Brother  Littell  did  not  send  a  list  with  the  largest 
subscriptions,  but  one  containing  several  $100  prom- 
ises. Very  soon  the  list  was  returned  with  two  $100 
subscriptions,  one  for  Mrs.  Bush  and  one  for  her 
niece,  Mrs.  Charlotte  Laidler.  Of  course  the  pastor 
wrote  a  letter  of  thanks ;  and  a  little  later  he  received 
a  letter  in  Mrs.  Bush's  own  handwriting — she  was 
then  ninety-two  years  old — telling  him  of  a  provision 


A  ROMANTIC  STORY  THAT  IS  TRUE  ^9 

in  her  will  of  $  1,000  for  the  Coopers  town  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  to  be  used  whenever  extensive 
alterations  were  made  in  the  church,  or  when  a 
new  church  was  built.  "Now  that  the  church  is 
being  built,  I  will  pay  the  $1,000  while  I  am  alive: 
then  I  will  know  they  have  it."  A  few  weeks  later 
the  $1,000  came.  Resolutions  of  thanks,  passed  by 
the  Official  Board,  were  forwarded  to  Mrs.  Bush. 
About  the  time  the  church  was  enclosed,  Mrs.  Bush 
wrote  and  asked  Mr.  Littell  to  ascertain  the  cost  of 
an  organ  for  the  church,  and  also  of  a  bell.  He  got 
the  organ-builders  here,  and  they  estimated  that 
with  the  use  of  a  part  of  the  old  organ  they  could 
build  an  organ  suitable  for  the  church  for  $1,200. 
A  price  was  also  secured  for  a  bell.  The  pastor, 
with  some  fear  lest  he  was  overdoing  matters,  sent 
these  figures  to  Mrs.  Bush.  She  wrote  back  that 
she  did  not  want  any  old  materials  in  the  organ: 
"Get  a  price  on  an  entirely  new  organ,  and  I  will 
give  it  in  memory  of  my  daughter,  Mrs.  Wilcox," 
— who  was  for  some  years  organist  of  the  church. 
Then  she  bade  Mr.  Littell  secure  a  larger  bell,  for 
the  one  proposed  would  not  be  heavy  enough,  and 
she  would  give  that  in  memory  of  her  husband. 
The  organ  and  bell  cost  nearly  $2,000.  Next  she 
wrote  and  urged  Brother  Littell  to  get  the  ladies 
of  the  church  interested  in  the  church  furnishings  and 
she  would  start  them  with  $100.  Within  a  year  after 
the  opening  of  the  church,  Mrs.  BUsh  gave  another 
$1,000  subscription  to  help  pay  the  debt:  and  on  her 
decease  left  the  tritstees  $1,100  for  the  same  purpose. 
As  an  incident,  she  sent  the  officials  $100  to  be  pre- 
sented to  Brother  Littell  in  gold  in  her  name,  in  ap- 
preciation of  his  work  in  the  church-building  en- 


40  EARI,Y  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  t.  CHURCH 

terprise.  So  the  name  of  "Laura  S.  Bush,"  which 
I  find  on  the  church  roll  beside  that  of  her  husband 
in  1840,  will  always  be  gratefully  remembered  by 
Cooperstown  Methodists. 


CHAPTER  IX 
The  OIvD  Church  Records 

THE  oldest  church  record  now  in  existence  is  the 
minute-book  of  the  annual  corporate  meetings 
and  of  the  trustees'  meetings.  The  book  in 
which  the  record  is  kept  was  made  by  "H.  and  E. 
Phinney,  at  their  bookstore  and  printing  office,  in 
the  brick  building  adjoining  Mr.  Goodsell's  store, 
Coopers  town."  The  first  entry  is  dated  October 
22,  1816,  and  tells  of  the  meeting  that  incorporated 
the  church.  The  last  entry  is  of  March  4,  1889: 
so  that  it  covers  a  period  of  seventy- three  years. 

This  record  shows  that  on  several  occasions  the 
time  for  electing  trustees  was  allowed  to  pass  without 
an  election:  once  or  twice  three  years  went  by,  and 
no  corporate  meeting  was  called.  But  all  the  trus- 
tees elected  from  the  beginning  are  here  recorded. 
The  names  of  most  of  the  prominent  laymen  occur 
in  other  parts  of  this  narrative.  Additional  to  these, 
we  find  that  in  the  early  period  Asher  Canfield, 
Benjamin  Allen,  and  Ezra  Crane  served  for  many 
years.  Later  the  names  of  Caleb  Clark  and  S.  W. 
Root  frequently  occur.  Still  later  Bartlett  Rogers, 
J.  B.  Judson,  Charles  L.  Root,  H.  L  Murdock,  Dr. 
O.  H.  Babbitt,  and  William  McLean  were  among  the 
active  laymen.  The  church  has  been  fortunate  in 
its  laymen :  it  has  never  lacked  men  and  women  who 
have  given  their  time  and  means  without  stint  for 
its  service. 

The  first  church  roll  is  lost.     A  list  of  the  original 


42  KARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M,  E.  CHURCH 

members  has,  however,  been  retained,  and  the  Rev. 
W.  M.  Hiller  copied  it  into  the  record  in  1879.  This 
list  follows :  Philena  Butts,  Henry  Knowlton,  George 
Roberts,  Daniel  McLeland,  Joseph  Perkins  and  wife, 
Justus  Hinman,  A.  Perkins,  B.  Eaton,  S.  Crane, 
Ezra   Crane,    Andrew    Petty   and   wife,    Benjamin 

Allen  and  wife, .Potter  and  wife,  A.  Jarvis,  and 

G.  W.  Roberts.  If  this  roll  is  complete,  there  were 
nineteen  members  when  the  church  was  organized. 
The  oldest  original  church  roll  I  have  takes  us  back 
to  1840.  Philena  Butts  and  Henry  Knowlton  were 
still  alive  and  in  active  membership  at  that  time. 
Indeed,  Mrs.  Butts  very  nearly  became  a  centen- 
arian: she  died  June  24,  1884,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
eight.  She  had  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  for  eighty-two  years:  she  joined 
in  1802,  at  what  place  I  can  not  tell,  when  she  was 
sixteen  years  old.  The  roll  of  1840  also  contains  the 
names  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Short,  who  joined  the 
church  in  1807.  Samuel  Short  was  a  Revolutionary 
soldier:  he  and  his  wife  removed  from  Hartwick  to 
Cooperstown  about  1830.  Mr.  Short  and  his  sons 
built  homes  on  the  south  side  of  Elm  Street — then 
a  country  lane — and  it  was  known  as  the  "Short 
settlement."  The  names  of  Reuben  Nelson  and 
William  Burnside  are  also  on  the  roll  at  this  date: 
both  were  soon  after  in  the  ministry. 

The  oldest  quarterly  conference  record  I  have 
begins  vSeptember  9,  1854.  The  very  first  minutes 
recorded  are  in  the  neat  handwriting  of  the  Rev. 
J.  L.  G.  McKown,  who  was  the  first  principal  of  the 
Cooperstown  Seminary.  He  was  secretary  of  the 
conference.  The  Rev.  Silas  Comfort  was  pastor 
that  year.     He  was  the  son  of  John  Comfort,  who 


THE  OU)   CHURCH   RECORDS  43 

founded  our  church  at  Lanesboro,  Pa.  ^ilas  Com- 
fort's son  was  George  Fisk  Comfort,  who  organized 
and  was  the  first  dean  of  the  Fine  Arts  College  of 
Syracuse  University:  he  also  assisted  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Arts  in  New 
York  City  and  the  American  Philological  Association. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  educators  of 
his  generation.  He  was  a  lad  of  ten  when  his  father 
occupied  the  parsonage  on  Elm  Street.  Silas  Com- 
fort was  himself  a  man  of  great  force  of  character: 
several  years  before  he  came  to  Cooperstown  he  was 
in  the  Missouri  Conference,  and  whilst  there  broke 
down  a  usage  that  had  arisen  in  slave  states  forbid- 
ding a  colored  member  to  testify  against  a  white 
member  in  a  church  trial.  This  practice  followed 
the  prohibition  of  colored  people  testifying  against 
whites  in  the  civil  courts.  Dr.  Comfort  accepted 
the  evidence  of  a  worthy  colored  person  against  a 
white  member,  and  was  censured  by  the  Missouri 
Conference  for  the  act.  He  appealed  the  case  to  the 
General  Conference  of  1840,  which  relieved  him  from 
censure.  This  act  of  Silas  Comfort  had  some  in- 
fluence in  bringing  about  the  division  of  the  church 
on  the  slavery  question  at  the  General  Conference 
of  1844.  Silas  Comfort  was  the  antithesis  of  Seth 
Mattison,  probably  the  first  Methodist  minister  to 
live  at  Cooperstown.  Mr.  Mattison  was  as  exquis- 
itely sensitive  as  the  poet  Cowper,  and  once  bribed 
a  parishioner  who  was  entertaining  him  not  to  kill 
a  sheep  he  was  about  to  slaughter  for  food.  After 
fondling  the  animal.  Brother  Mattison  could  not 
endure  the  thought  of  its  being  butchered.  In  con- 
trast to  this  was  Silas  Comfort's  action  after  his 
wife's  death.     The  body  was  buried  at  Hartwick  in 


44  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

the  fall,  in  mid- winter  it  was  disinterred,  and  left 
in  the  stable  overnight.  Next  day  he  shifted  the 
body  of  his  cutter  to  one  side,  lashed  casket  and 
rough  box  on  the  other  side  of  the  cutter,  and  drove 
on  to  Cazenovia,  where  the  body  was  left  in  an  out- 
building overnight,  and  next  day  buried.  On  the 
way  he  stopped  at  Schuyler  Lake  and  had  dinner 
with  the  Rev.  Austin  Griffin,  who  gave  me  this  au- 
thentic account  of  the  widely-reported  story.  One 
day  Mr.  Comfort  refused  sugar  in  his  tea  in  a  Coop- 
erstown  home,  because  his  hostess  served  loaf  sugar: 
loaf  sugar  was  an  extravagance  he  could  not  coun- 
tenance! The  Cooperstown  Seminary  was  opened 
in  1854,  and  all  church  services  were  well  attended, 
many  being  crowded.  This  may  account  for  a 
resolution  "That  No.  i  pew  be  reserved  for  preach- 
er's family."  The  pew-renting  system  was  then  in 
vogue.  Within  a  few  years  three  instructors  in  the 
seminary  were  licensed  to  preach:  P.  D.  Hammond, 
C.  K.  Pomeroy,  and  S.  K.  Opdyke.  Four  men  who 
later  entered  the  ministry  were  members  of  the 
quarterly  conference  in  1857:  William  C.  Bowen, 
Bloomfield  B.  Loomis,  L.  V.  Ismond,  and  W.  H. 
Cochrane.  H.  N.  Van  Deusen  became  a  member 
of  the  quarterly  conference  in  October,  1858,  and 
his  brother  Albert  a  little  later.  The  third  brother, 
George  S.  Van  Deusen,  was  recording  steward  for 
many  years,  and  entered  many  of  these  minutes. 
Hyde  Park  was  connected  with  Cooperstown  from 
1859  or  earlier  until  1902.  A  minute  of  November 
5,  1859,  provides  that  "Bro.  Wells  preach  at  Hyde 
Park  once  every  Saboath,  and  that  they  raise  at 
least  $100  for  his  support."  The  church  at  Hyde 
Park  was  built  in  1862 :  Cornelius  Teachout,  a  devo- 


THE   OLD   CHURCH    RECORDS  45 

ted  layman  at  Hyde  Park,  was  largely  responsible 
for  the  erection  of  the  church.  He  and  his  son 
Elkanah  were  mem  bers  of  the  quarterly  conference 
for  many  years. 

A  curious  entry  in  the  quarterly  conference  record 
is  dated  January  25,  1864:  "That  Bro.  Jacob  Moak 
be  allowed  one  collection  each  Sabbath  (except  on 
special  occasions),  on  consideration  that  he  furnish 
sexton,  fuel,  lights,  and  lamp  chimneys  for  one  year 
from  date."  Bro.  Moak,  who  was  a  faithful  official 
member,  had  made  such  an  offer  to  the  board.  The 
same  meeting  resolved  "that  no  member  of  this 
church  shall  contract  any  debt  against  the  church 
on  any  pretense  whatever."  Miss  Martha  Moak's 
dislike  of  church  debts  was  evidently  inherited. 

Two  entries  in  1858  are  interesting.  The  Rev. 
J.  T.  Crippen  asked  permission  "to  use  the  base- 
ment of  the  church  to  sing  in  during  the  present  term 
of  the  school.  Granted. ' '  Then  this  entry : '  'Moved 
and  seconded :  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  sing- 
ing in  the  gallery,  directly  or  indirectly.  Carried 
without  a  dissenting  voice."  Then  on  July  27, 
1867,  we  have  the  following  resolution:  "That  we,, 
the  members  of  the  quarterly  conference,  declare 
that  the  best  interests  of  the  church  will  be  sub- 
served that  you,  — .  — .  — — ,  the  present  chorister 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  be  dismissed 
from  the  choir."  The  brother  named  was  for  years 
before  and  after  this  complimentary  resolution  an 
active  member  of  the  official  board. 


CHAPTER  X 

CooFERSTowN   Recruits   for  the   Christian 
Ministry 

DR.  REUBEN  NELSON  entered  the  ministry 
whilst  teaching  in  the  second  Cooperstown 
Academy:  it  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  parochial  residence.  The  building  was  re- 
moved to  Susquehanna  Avenue,  and  is  now  James 
Mahan's  tenant  house.  Reuben  Nelson  was  a 
Morris  boy,  a  member  of  a  large  family,  and  lost 
an  arm  through  getting  his  hand  caught  in  a  "picker" 
in  Hargreaves'  cotton  mill  in  that  village,  where 
he  was  employed.  This  accident  was  used  to  turn 
his  thoughts  towards  the  great  career  God  had  for 
him  in  His  Church.  We  find  Reuben  Nelson's 
name  on  a  subscription  list  for  the  Cooperstown 
church  in  1838,  and  he  remained  in  connection  with 
the  academy  until  1844.  He  was  recommended  by 
the  Cooperstown  Quarterly  Conference  to  the  Oneida 
Conference  in  1840:  and  served  neighboring  circuits 
while  still  principal  of  the  academy.  He  left  Coop- 
erstown to  become  the  first  president  of  Wyoming 
Seminary:  there  his  services  are  commemorated  by 
the  Nelson  Memorial  Hall,  built  in  1887  at  a  cost 
of  $30,000.  When  he  left  Kingston  he  became  one 
of  the  book  agents  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  New 
York,  and  also  treasurer  of  its  Missionary  Society. 
The  Rev.  William  Bumside  was  a  student  under 
Nelson  at  the  academy,  and  was  licensed  to  preach 


COOPERSTOWN  RECRUITS  FOR  THE  MINISTRY      47 

while  here.  He  joined  Oneida  Conference  in  1842, 
and  gave  forty-two  years  to  the  ministry. 

From  1857  to  1863  eight  men  from  Cooperstown 
went  into  the  Methodist  ministry:  all  had  been  in 
some  relation  to  the  Cooperstown  Seminary.  One, 
William  C.  Bowen,  an  instructor,  was  recommended 
to  the  Oneida  Conference  in  1857.  The  other  seven 
were  students:  four  of  them  are  living. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Newton  Van  Deusen  went  to 
Cazenovia  Seminary  from  Cooperstown  in  1858, 
where  he  and  J.  W.  Mevis  were  roommates.  Bro. 
Van  Deusen  was  graduated  from  Concord  Biblical 
Institute  and  joined  Oneida  Conference  in  1863. 
He  gave  forty-eight  years  of  effective  service,  and 
then,  in  the  first  year  of  his  retirement,  served  the 
church  that  gave  him  to  the  ministry  for  half  a  year. 
Mrs.  H.  N.  Van  Deusen  was  Miss  Mary  J.  Porter 
of  Cooperstown. 

The  Rev.  Albert  Van  Deusen  entered  Concord 
the  year  before  his  brother  Newton  left.  He  joined 
the  Newark  Conference,  and  has  been  in  the  active 
ministry  since  1865:  he  is  now  pastor  at  Rossville, 
Staten  Island. 

The  Rev.  Bloomfield  B.  Loomis,  Ph.D.,  D.  D., 
was  converted  in  1852  in  the  services  conducted 
by  the  Rev.  John  P.  Newman.  He  at  once  joined 
the  church,  and  took  an  active  part  in  its  work.  He 
was  graduated  from  Union  College  in  1863,  and 
joined  Troy  Conference  that  year.  Dr.  Loomis 
has  served  some  of  the  strongest  churches  in  Troy 
Conference,  and  now  in  his  retirement  lives  at  Car- 
lisle, Pa.  He  married  Miss  Sophia  Witt,  of  Coopers- 
town. 

Dr.  W.  W.  Bowdish  is  the  son  of  a  Methodist 


48  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

preacher,  and  is  himself  one  of  five  brothers  who  en- 
tered the  ministry.  One,  the  Rev.  Arvine  C.  Bow- 
dish,  was  for  a  time  a  member  of  the  Wyoming  Con- 
ference. Wellesley  W.  Bowdish  came  to  Coopers- 
town  to  attend  the  seminary,  and  retained  his  church 
membership  at  Hartwick  whilst  there,  but  taught  in 
the  Sunday  School  of  the  Cooperstown  Church. 
Dr.  Bowdish  is  a  graduate  of  Wesleyan  University. 
He  has  had  a  distinguished  ministry,  and  now  has 
supervision  of  the  New  Haven  District  of  the  New 
York  East  Conference,  residing  at  New  Haven, 
Conn. 

The  other  three  seminary  students  referred  to 
were  the  Rev.  Lorin  V.  Ismond,  who  entered  the 
ministry  in  1862  and  after  service  in  the  Oneida  and 
Wyoming  Conferences,  was  transferred  in  1870  to 
Missouri,  where  he  later  died;  the  Rev.  William  R. 
Cochran,  who  gave  good  service  as  a  layman  to  his 
home  church,  entered  the  ministry  in  1863,  gave 
forty  fruitful  years  to  the  pastorate,  and  died  in 
1907;  and  the  Rev.  John  W.  Mevis,  who  joined 
Oneida  Conference  in  1859,  and  gave  thirty-four 
years  to  the  ministry,  dying  in  1896. 

The  Rev.  Leonard  C.  Murdock,  D.  D.,  the  present 
superintendent  of  Scranton  District,  was  raised  at 
Toddsville,  and  was  for  two  years  a  student  at  Coop- 
erstown High  School.  The  family  removing  to 
Cooperstown,  he  became  a  member  of  this  church, 
and  was  recommended  by  the  Cooperstown  Quarterly 
Conference  for  admission  to  Wyoming  Conference 
on  March  1 4,  1 890.  He  was  graduated  from  Wesleyan 
University  in  1890.  Dr.  Murdock  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  last  two  General  Conferences,  and  serves 
on  several  of  our  great  church  committees. 


COOPERSTOWN  RECRUITS  FOR  THE  MINISTRY      49 

The  Rev.  Charles  Wesley  Walker  was  born  at 
Cooperstown  in  1869,  ^^d  was  graduated  from  the 
high  school  in  1891 .  He  was  a  graduate  of  Syracuse 
University  and  of  the  Boston  Theological  School. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Cooperstown 
Quarterly  Conference  while  still  a  high  school  stu- 
dent in  1889.  He  joined  the  Central  New  York 
Conference,  served  important  churches,  and  died 
while  pastor  at  Clyde  in  1904.  He  was  a  man  of 
unusual  promise. 

The  Rev.  Willard  H.  Alger  went  into  the  ministry 
from  Cooperstown.  Born  at  Fly  Creek,  he  joined 
our  church  there,  but  later  at  Cooperstown  united 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Special  services 
held  by  the  Rev.  A.  F.  Chaffee  in  our  church  deepened 
Bro.  Alger's  sense  of  a  call  to  the  ministry:  he  re- 
joined the  Methodist  Church,  became  the  first 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretary  in  Cooperstown,  was  licensed 
to  preach,  and  in  1888  took  supply  work,  joining 
Wyoming  Conference  in  1890.  His  present  charge 
is  Waverly,  Pa. 

Although  not  sent  from  Cooperstown  into  the 
ministry,  this  chapter  would  not  be  complete  without 
mentioning  the  five  sons  of  Luther  Peck,  of  Middle- 
field  Center,  who  beca,m,e  Methodist  preachers,  in- 
cluding Bishop  Jesse  T.  Peck  and  Dr.  George  Peck. 
The  bishop  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Syracuse 
University.  He  was  a  large,  portly,  pompous  man, 
with  a  self-satisfied  manner  that  suggested  egotism. 
One  intrepid  brother  spoke  to  him  of  it .  "  Egotism ! ' ' 
exclaimed  the  bishop:  "egotism!  It  is  conscious 
superiority."  He  was  once  a  guest  of  the  Rev.  I. 
D.  and  Mrs.  Peaslee,  and  baptized  their  infant  daugh- 
ter. 


$^         EARI,Y  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

In  the  fifties  there  was  an  epidemic  of  seminaries 
in  this  country.  Cooperstown  caught  the  fever. 
On  December  20,  1853,  a  meeting  was  held  to  pro- 
mote the  founding  of  a  Methodist  secondary  school 
in  this  village.  At  first  the  movement  was  very 
strong.  Cooperstown  people  subscribed  $20,000 
towards  the  project,  and  the  Methodists  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  $15,000.  The  site  on  which  the 
high  school  stands  was  purchased,  and  a  noble  pile 
of  buildings  erected,  in  1854.  The  center  building, 
which  projected  ten  feet,  was  75  feet  long  by  46 
deep,  and  was  five  stories  high  above  the  basement. 
There  was  a  wing  on  each  side,  connecting  with  ells, 
the  whole  front  being  222  feet  in  length.  The  wings 
and  ells  were  four  stories  high.  The  school  opened 
with  great  ceremony  November  15,  1854,  Bishop 
Matthew  Simpson,  the  marvelous  orator,  giving  an 
address.  The  first  year  there  were  330  boarding 
pupils,  apart  from  day  scholars.  The  income  for 
the  first  year  almost  equalled  the  expenditure.  It 
soon  appeared  that  a  large  seminary  needed  ample 
financial  backing,  and  this  the  school  lacked.  Debts 
increased,  and  in  1856  Professors  P.  D.  Hammond 
and  C.  K.  Pomeroy  leased  the  property.  The  school 
was  run,  on  a  smaller  scale,  by  different  parties  until 
1869,  when  it  was  purchased  for  a  summer  hotel, 
and  was  known  as  the  Cooper  House.  During  the 
first  few  years  the  seminary  was  running  nine  young 
men  who  were  preparing  for  the  ministry  were  among 
its  students.  In  addition  to  those  named  above, 
the  Revs.  W.  B.  Westlake  and  Delmar  L.  Lowell 
were  for  a  while  in  the  Seminary. 


CHAPTER  XI 
Present  Officers  and  Departments  of  Work 

THE  stewards  for  1913-4  are:  W.  H.  Michaels, 
James  Mahan,  G.  B.  Winne,  H.  L.  Brazee, 
Harry  E.  Ivcwis,  Kenneth  Root,  H.  N.  Mich- 
chaels,  Harvey  C.  Tubbs,  Charles  F.  Reynolds, 
Charles  B.  Fitch,  M.  Onderdonk,  William  H.  Martin, 
Edwin  Smith,  W.  R.  Littell,  D.  E.  Gilmore,  and 
Orlo  Brown. 

The  trustees  are:  H.  L.  Brazee,  C.  A.  Francis, 

C.  B.  Johnson,  Edwin  Lewis,  James  Mahan,  W.  H. 
Michaels,  M.  Onderdonk,  C.  F.  Reynolds,  and  Ed- 
win Smith. 

The  Sunday  School  was  organized  soon  after  the 
first  church  was  built,  but  I  find  no  detailed  report 
during  its  early  history.  In  1850  the  Rev.  D.  W. 
Bristol  reported  ten  officers  and  teachers  and  fifty 
scholars,  and  expenses  $12.36,  "raised  principally 
by  the  school."  There  was  a  Sunday  School  li- 
brary at  that  time.  In  the  early  years  of  the  sem- 
inary. Prof.  L.  H.  Bugbee  was  superintendent  of 
the  school,  and  four  young  men  who  later  entered 
the  ministry  took  an  active  part  in  its  work:  W.  R. 
Cochran,  Bloomfield  B.  Loomis,  Lorin  V.  Ismond, 
and  W,  W.  Bowdish.  George  S.  Van  Deusen  was 
the  faithful  superintendent  for  thirteen  years,  and 

D.  E.  Gilmore  served  for  fourteen  years.  The 
school  has  today  two  organized  adult  classes,  and 
an  enrollment  of  195.  The  officers  for  19 13  are: 
Superintendent,  P.  R.  Bunn;  assistant,  C.  C.  Cham- 


52  PRESENT  OFFICERS  AND  DEPARTMENTS 

plin;  secretary,  Miss  Ethel  A.  Wright;  treasurer, 
H.  C.  Tubbs;  missionary  superintendent  and  treas- 
urer, Mrs.  H.  O.  Bouton ;  temperance  superintendent, 
Mrs.  G.  T.  Burke;  primary  superintendent,  Miss 
V.  Mae  Harris;  cradle-roll  superintendent,  Miss 
Edna  Francis ;  pianist,  Mrs.  E.  B .  Coates.  Teachers. 
Mrs.  E.  Andrews,  Mrs.  A.  Clarke,  Mrs.  Coates, 
Mrs.  W.  I.  Gardner,  Miss  Harris,  Miss  Orrie  B. 
HoUiday,  Mrs.  H.  E.  I^ewis,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Martin, 
Mrs.  Emily  McLean,  Mrs.  C.  F.  Reynolds,  Mrs. 
H.  C.  Tubbs,  and  the  pastor.  The  Sunday  School 
collections  for  the  past  year  have  realized  $116.58. 

Chapter  No.  6850  of  the  Epworth  League  was 
chartered  Nov.  16,  1891,  when  the  Rev.  W.  T. 
Blair  was  pastor.  It  holds  a  devotional  meeting 
every  Sunday  evening,  and  has  done  good  work. 
Officers  for  1913:  President,  Miss  Ethel  A.  Wright; 
vice-presidents,  Mrs.  Ruby  Witherspoon,  Miss 
Mae  Harris,  Miss  Mary  Peaslee,  and  Edward  Fran- 
cis; secretary  and  pianist,  Miss  Ethel  Bowen;  treas- 
urer,  John   Clarke;   chorister,    Mrs.    Witherspoon. 

A  chapter  of  the  Wesley  Brotherhood  was  char- 
tered January  20,  1906,  when  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Littell 
was  pastor.  It  did  good  service  for  about  two  years, 
and  then  was  dormant.  On  April  26,  191 2,  a  chap- 
ter of  the  Methodist  Brotherhood  was  formed,  which 
is  quite  active.  Besides  a  thriving  Brotherhood 
Class,  it  provides  a  men's  chorus  to  sing  at  the  Sun- 
day evening  services,  and  has  absorbed  the  Ushers' 
Club,  furnishing  ushers  for  all  church  services. 
The  chapter  has  over  fifty  members.  It  makes 
much  of  its  social  features.  Officers:  President, 
Harry  E.  Lewis;  vice-presidents,  C.  F.  Reynolds, 
C.  B.  Johnson,  H.  L.  Brazee,  Kenneth  Root,  and 


EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH  53 

H.  C.  Tubbs;  secretary,  Harry  Freeman;  treasurer, 
Howard  N.  Michaels;  chaplain,  G.  B.  Winne. 

The  Ladies'  Aid  Society  has  existed  for  a  great 
many  years,  and  has  been  an  unfailing  source  of 
financial  help  to  the  church  in  all  its  enterprises. 
Recently  it  has  conducted  a  very  successful  bazaar 
to  help  liquidate  the  church  debt.  The  officers  are: 
President,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Martin;  vice-presidents, 
Mrs.  H.  C.  Tubbs,  Mrs.  Allen  Gallup  and  Miss 
Sarah  E.  Marsh;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mrs. 
Frank  Simmons. 

The  Marythas  (Ma-ryth'-as)  is  a  Cooperstown 
product:  its  name  is  a  combination  of  Mary  and 
Martha,  sisters  of  Lazarus  of  Bethany.  The  New 
York  "Christian  Advocate"  calls  it  "the  feminine 
counterpart  of  the  Methodist  Brotherhood."  It 
was  organized  May  3,  191 2,  by  the  pastor,  and  now 
has  over  sixty  members.  The  professed  aim  of  the 
Marythas  is  "to  promote  the  intelligent  study  of 
God's  Word  through  the  Sunday  School  class,  and 
in  all  ways  that  love  can  devise  to  further  the  work 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  among  women,  and  to 
build  up  His  Church."  The  motto  texts — "Mary 
sat  at  Jesus  feet,  and  heard  His  word,"  and  "And 
Maltha  served" — suggest  the  fact  that  the  Marythas 
stand  for  the  devotional  life  of  Mary  and  the  prac- 
tical service  of  Martha.  Officers:  Teacher,  Mrs. 
W.  H.  Martin;  president,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Tubbs;  vice- 
president,  Mrs.  Albert  Clarke;  secretary.  Miss 
Ethel  Wright;  treasurer,  Mrs.  N.  Houck;  lookout 
department,  Miss  Martha  Moak;  visiting  depart- 
ment, Miss  Sarah  Marsh;  social  department,  Mrs. 
H.  E.  Lewis;  librarian,  Mrs.  W.  I.  Gardner. 

The    Woman's    Foreign   Missionary   Society   was 


54  PRESENT  OFFICERS  AND  DEPARTMENTS 

organized  by  Mrs.  J.  H.  Littell  on  October  2,  1901. 
The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  was  formed 
in  1908.  Both  auxiliaries  have  worked  well  for  the 
missionary  cause.  During  the  past  year  the  two 
societies  have  combined  their  meetings,  and  the 
same  officers,  except  the  treasurer,  serve  for  both 
departments:  President,  Mrs.  W.  I.  Gardner;  vice- 
president,  Mrs.  E.  Andrews;  secretary,  Mrs.  H.  C. 
Tubbs ;  corresponding  secretary.  Miss  Mary  Peaslee ; 
treasurer  foreign  department,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Martin; 
treasurer  home  department.   Miss  Belinda  Chase. 

The  Queen  Esther  Circle  supports  a  girl  in  school 
in  Georgia.  Its  officers  are:  President,  Miss  Effie 
Teachout;  vice-presidents.  Miss  Harris  and  Miss 
Wright;  secretary.  Miss  Hazel  Champlin;  treasurer. 
Miss  Lena  Gage. 

The  Choir  is  always  an  important  factor  in  church 
work.  Quite  early  in  the  Elm  Street  Church  the 
choir  was  placed  in  the  gallery  opposite  the  preacher, 
a  small  pipe  organ  being  installed.  This  instrument 
wore  out,  and  a  reed  instrument  was  used  for  a 
while,  to  be  supplanted  by  the  pipe  organ  from 
Schenectady  in  1875.  Mrs.  Babcock  is  the  first 
organist  of  whom  I  can  learn;  then  came  Miss  Cora 
Smith;  and  Mrs.  Harriett  A.  House  was  organist 
from  1864  until  1870.  During  the  latter  period  the 
choir  consisted  of  Mrs.  George  Newell,  Miss  Hattie 
Gould,  Miss  Eliza  Bowen,  Jacob  Snyder,  G.  W. 
Holmes,  and  Charles  L.  Root.  Jacob  Snyder  was 
chorister  awhile,  and  C.  L.  Root  for  a  long  period. 
Later  organists  were  Mrs.  Wilcox,  D.  E.  Gilmore 
and  Miss  Blanch  Root.  The  present  organist  is 
Miss  Mary  Peaslee,  and  H.  L.  Brazee  is  chorister. 


.     .  CHAPTER  XII 

CooPERSTowN  Pastors 

IN  giving  the  list  of  Cooperstown  pastors  I  begin 
with  the  preachers  on  the  Otsego  Circuit  in  1810. 
Otsego  Circuit:  1810,  William  Jewett,  Seth 
Mattison;  181 1,  Isaac  Teller,  Samuel  Ross;  181 2, 
Ebenezer  White,  Ralph  Lanning;  18 13,  Ralph  Lan- 
ning,  Asa  Cummings;  18 14,  George  Gary,  James 
Hazen;  181 5,  George  Gary,  Seth  Mattison,  Asa 
Cummins;  18 16,  Seth  Mattison;  18 17,  Abner  Chase; 
181 8,  Benjamin  G.  Paddock,  John  Hamilton. 

Cooperstown:  18 19,  B.  G.  Paddock;  1820,  Elias 
Bowen  (B.  G.  Paddock  filling  out  the  year);  1821, 
Dana  Fox. 

Otsego  and  Cooperstown:  1822,  Orin  Doolittle, 
Eli  Allen. 

Otsego  Circuit:  1823,  Orin  Doolittle,  John  Roper; 
1824,  Ephraim  Hall,  John  Roper;  1825,  Isaac  Stone, 
Anson  TuUer;  1826,  Jesse  Pomeroy,  Henry  Peck, 
Isaac  Stone;  1827,  Isaac  Grant,  J.  Pomeroy. 

Otsego    and    Cooperstown:    1828,    Isaac    Grant. 

Cooperstown:  1829,  Henry  F.  Rowe. 

Otsego  Circuit:  1830,  John  Roper,  H.  F.  Rowe; 
1831,  H.  F.  Rowe,  L.  C.  Rogers;  1832,  George  Har- 
mon, L.  C.  Rogers;  1833,  George  Harmon,  J.  Warner; 
1834,  John  Ercanbrack;  1835,  J.  Ercanbrack,  D. 
Davis;  1836,  W.  Round,  Calvin  Hawley,  Ira  D. 
Warren;  1837,  W.  Round,  C.  Hawley,  M.  Marvin. 

Cooperstown:    1838-9,   D.   W.   Bristol;    1840,   V. 


56  EARI^Y  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

M.  Coryell;  1841,  William  Bixby;  1842,  Lyman  A. 
Eddy. 

Otsego  and  Cooperstown:  1843,  L.  A.  Eddy,  J. 
Shank. 

Cooperstown:  1844-5,  Cassius  H.  Harvey;  1846-7, 
B.  W.  Gorham;  1848-9,  D.  W.  Bristol;  1850-1,  E.  G. 
Andrews  (later  Bishop);  1852-3,  Charles  Blakeslee; 
1854,  Silas  Comfort;  1855-6,  M.  C.  Kern;  1857, 
Joseph  Shank;  1858,  J.  T.  Crippen;  1859-60,  J.  L. 
Wells;  1 86 1 -2,  G.  W.  Bridge;  1863,  R.  Townsend; 
1864,  J-  Pilkington;  1865-7,  Isaac D.Peaslee;  1868-70, 
W.  Iv.  Thorpe;  1871-2,  H  .  M.  Crydenwise;  1873, 
W.  A.  Wadsworth;  1874-6,  A.  S.  Clark;  1877-9, 
W.  M.  Hiller;  1880-1,  J.  C.  Leacock;  1882-4,  A.  J. 
Cook;  1885-7,  Amasa  F.  Chaffee;  1888-90,  Truman 
F.  Hall;  1891-3,  W.  T.  Blair;  1894-8,  Benj.  P.  Ripley; 
1889-1900,  Egbert  Kilpatrick;  1901-5,  Jacob  H. 
Littell;  1906-7,  Thomas  B.  Roberts;  1908-9,  Ira 
J.  Harris;  1910-11,  Nathaniel  Harris  (H.  N.  Van 
Deusen  filling  out  the  year  1911);  1912,  Albert 
Clarke. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Annual,   Conferences   at   Cooperstown 

THE  Oneida  Conference,  with  a  membership 
of  170,  met  in  Cooperstown  in  1858,  the  ses- 
sions being  held  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
then  the  largest  in  the  village.  Bishop  Edward 
R.  Ames  presided.  He  preached  on  the  Sunday- 
morning  in  the  seminary  chapel,  which,  although 
an  auditorium  70  feet  by  46  feet,  would  not  hold  the 
people  who  tried  to  attend  the  service.  The  Rev, 
A.  J.  Dana,  presiding  elder  of  the  district,  died  in 
the  fall  before  the  conference,  and  the  Rev.  J.  Shank, 
the  Cooperstown  pastor,  was  appointed  to  his  oflfice. 
The  Rev.  J.  T.  Crippen  was  taken  up  from  Morris 
and  made  pastor  at  Cooperstown.  Bros.  H.  C. 
Fish,  J.  G.  Bush,  Loomis  Brown,  W.  C.  Smith, 
Caleb  Clark,  and  W.  R.  Cochran  were  the  laymen 
who  assisted  the  pastor  in  arranging  for  the  confer- 
ence. The  Cooperstown  Seminary  was  then  finan- 
cially embarrassed,  and  a  committee  was  chosen 
with  power  to  purchase  the  property  for  the  con- 
ference, at  their  discretion,  if  sufficeint  money  could 
be  raised.  Caleb  Clark  was  a  member  of  that  com- 
mittee. Some  of  the  more  notable  members  of  the 
conference  were  E.  G.  Andrews,  D.  A.  Whedon, 
Luke  Queal,  B.  I.  Ives,  W.  G.  Queal,  Wm.  Reddy, 
and  W.  Searles. 

In  1906  the  Wyoming  Conference  met  at  Coopers- 
town. Some  difficidty  being  experienced  in  secur- 
ing a  place  of  meeting  that  year,  the  presiding  elders 


58         EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

were  authorized  to  arrange  for  the  conference  to 
entertain  itself.  The  Cooperstown  Church  was 
offered  for  the  gathering,  and  the  local  church  pro- 
vided entertainment  for  a  number  of  the  ministers. 
Some  250  ministers  attended,  in  addition  to  many 
laymen.  Bishop  Daniel  A.  Goodsell,  one  of  God's 
noblemen,  presided.  A  pleasing  feature  of  the  con- 
ference was  a  reception  to  the  bishop,  arranged  by 
the  Laymen's  Association  of  the  Conference  at  the 
Hotel  Fenimore,  where  a  large  number  of  the  visi- 
tors were  guests.  The  ordination  service  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  when  twelve  young  men  were  set  apart 
for  the  Christian  ministry,  was  declared  by  many 
ministers  to  be  the  most  beautiful  and  impressive 
they  had  ever  attended.  Another  distinctive  thing 
about  the  conference  was  the  series  of  evangelistic 
services  conducted  in  the  Village  Hall  at  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoons  by  the  Rev.  Theodore  S.  Hender- 
son (now  Bishop  Henderson).  The  Conference 
Laymen's  Association  met  in  the  Universalist  Church 
on  the  Friday.  The  Rev.  Wilbur  P.  Thirkield, 
who  has  since  been  elected  bishop,  addressed  the 
conference  in  the  interests  of  the  Freedman's  Aid 
Society. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
A  Comparison:    1812  and  1912 

WHEN  the  Cooperstown  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  was  formed,  the  village  had  a  popu- 
lation of  686,  and  150  communicant  mem- 
bers of  Christian  Churches.  Then,  as  now,, 
the  churches  took  in  people  of  the  adjacent  terri- 
tory. The  Presbyterian  Church  had  loi  of  these 
members,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  19,  and 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  the  remainder. 
That  year  Father  Nash  returned  100  members  for 
the  whole  of  Otsego  County :  so  30  would  be  a  liberal 
allowance  for  Cooperstown.  There  was  not  a  Sun- 
day School,  or  a  young  people's  society,  or  a  men's 
brotherhood,  or  a  woman's  organization  of  any  kind 
connected  with  the  churches. 

With  Cooperstown's  present  population  of  2,500, 
550  church  members  would  give  the  same  proportion 
of  members  to  population  as  obtained  in  1812. 
Two  out  of  the  six  churches  have  that  number  of 
members,  and  a  hundred  to  spare.  Indeed,  omit- 
ting all  non-resident  members,  the  Cooperstown 
Protestant  churches  today  have  more  than  twice  the 
proportion  of  communicants  to  the  population  that 
existed  in  18 12:  and  then  the  membership  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  to  be  added.  Every 
church  today  has  its  Sunday  School,  and  the  thou- 
sand members  of  Sunday  School  classes  are  all  ad- 
ditional to  what  existed  of  yore.  Pile  up  the  mem- 
bership of  the  young  people's  societies,  the  brother- 


6o  EARLY  COOPERSTOWN  AND  M.  E.  CHURCH 

hoods,  the  ladies'  societies,  missionary  and  otherwise, 
and  we  have  a  tremendous  advantage  over  the  former 
period.     The  comparison  is  simply  a  contrast. 

Looking  farther  afield,  in  1 8 1 2  there  was  one  for- 
eign missionary  society  in  America,  just  formed,  and 
it  was  sending  out  its  first  few  missionaries.  Last 
year  the  Protestant  foreign  missionary  societies 
of  the  United  States  raised  $14,942,523  to  carry  on 
their  work,  and  supported  8,037  missionaries  and 
37,851  native  workers  on  the  foreign  field.  These 
missions  themselves  raised  $3,641,585  towards  the 
expense  of  the  work.  And  what  is  the  result  of  this 
expenditure  of  men  and  money?  There  are  980,570 
baptized  Christians  and  508,372  adherents  not  yet 
baptized,  in  addition  to  892,600  Sunday  School  pupils 
in  the  missions. 

The  growth  of  the  chief  American  churches  has 
been  more  remarkable  than  the  Cooperstown  prog- 
ress. In  18 12  the  Baptist  Church  had  168,067 
members  in  the  United  States:  Dr.  Carroll's  statis- 
tics today  credit  them  with  5,894,232  members. 
The  Presbyterian  Churches  have  grown  to  1,981,949 
members,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  to  980, 
851,  and  the  Universalist  Church  has  51,716. 

The  Methodist  Church  has  made  still  larger 
growth  in  the  100  years.  The  total  American  mem- 
bership in  181 2  was  195,357,  with  688  ministers. 
Today  there  are  6,905,095  communicant  members 
of  the  Methodist  Churches  in  the  United  States, 
in  addition  to  351,710  members  in  Canada.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  by  the  returns  of  the 
"Methodist  Year  Book"  for  1913,  has  3,607,889 
members,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South 
coming  next  with  nearly  2,000,000  members.    The 


A  comparison:    1812  and  1912  61 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  20,245  ministers, 
36,014  Sunday  Schools,  with  a  total  membership 
of  officers  and  teachers  and  scholars  of  4,035,624. 
She  has  30,439  churches,  valued  at  $191,762,983, 
and  13,882  parsonages,  valued  at  $33,260,492. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  51  univer- 
sities and  colleges  in  the  United  States,  the  largest 
being  the  North- Western,  with  4,384  students,  and 
Syracuse,  with  3,500  students.  The  total  number 
of  universities,  colleges,  professional  and  prepara- 
tory schools  conducted  by  the  church  in  this  coun- 
try is  120.  These  have  property  and  endowment 
amounting  to  $51,174,227;  students,  47,084;  total 
income  for  expenses  last  year,  $4,370,579;  total  pro- 
fessors and  instructors,  3,209. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  also  conducts 
23  homes  for  the  aged,  17  orphanages  and  other  in- 
stitutions for  children,  and  16  hospitals,  the  Seney 
Hospital  at  Brooklyn  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Hospital  at  Philadelphia  being  nearest  to  Coopers- 
town.  The  Methodist  Book  Concern  has  been 
called  the  largest  publishing  house  in  America,  the 
sales  for  the  quadrennium  ending  1912  being  $10, 
321,261.79. 

The  latest  statistics  for  world-wide  Methodism 
are  those  of  19 10:  Members,  8,768,616;  ministers, 
55,808.;  Sunday  School  scholars,  8,273,809;  Methodist 
population,  32,728,547. 


Q(>  CS' 


001  034  250     9 


